Category: Music Life

Table of Contents

Do you remember that old saying… Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue? Well, over the weekend my music listening mirrored that saying.

I’ve been listening to a variety of music — something old, Phil Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor; something new, Notorious’ The Road to Damascus; something borrowed, Tom Russell; and something blue(s), Coco Montoya.

Something Old: Phil Ochs – Pleasures of the Harbor

I think that somewhere along the line I had a copy of Phil Ochs’ album Pleasures of the Harbor. Actually, I think it was on eight-track tape!

Anyway, it was good to hear the complete album again. I say “hear the complete album” because several of the tracks have been part of my listening rotation over the years — songs like “Flower Lady” (one of my all-time Ochs favorites), “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends,” “Pleasures of the Harbor,” and “The Crucifixion,” all of which have appeared on other compilation albums such as There But for Fortune.

But it was great to revisit songs like the opening track “Cross My Heart” and “The Party” for the first time in a long while — “and I crawled beneath the rug and re-tuned my piano.”

Links: Website: Phil Ochs HomePage – Remembering Phil Ochs (Sonny Ochs (Phil’s sister) –

Something New: Notorious – The Road to Damascus

Notorious is primarily a duo — Eden MacAdam-Somer (violinist, fiddler) and Larry Unger — though they sometimes expand to a trio or quartet with Sam Bartlett on mandolin and Mark Hellenberg on percussion or banjo/uke. From their website:

“Eden MacAdam-Somer is a remarkable musician. Violinist, fiddler (there’s a difference), clogger, and vocalist, she bowed, plucked, and danced up a storm, Unger contributing harmony, rhythm, musical ambiance and style. And style there was – in abundance… MacAdam-Somer has mastered it and Unger hung on for the ride. Heartrending vocals poured through ‘All Night Long’ and a Jewish wedding song. Singing and fiddling at the same time is her specialty, but her rendition of a Vaughan-Williams piece for soprano and violin was truly extraordinary.” – Michael Huebner, Birmingham News

Notorious plays a lively mix of folk, Celtic, Gypsy, and Eastern European styles. “Hora Miresii” is a Romanian tune, and “Caje Sukaarije” was made popular by Macedonian singer Esma Redžepova. The album is full of great instrumentals like “Blues at Daybreak,” “Hangman’s Reel,” and “Planxty Eden,” along with vocal gems such as “Wild Rose of the Mountain” and a beautiful rendition of “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans.” All in all, a fine album that I know I’ll be returning to often.

Something Borrowed: Tom Russell – Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia

After revisiting Ochs and discovering Notorious, it seemed only fitting to borrow from another era. Tom Russell’s Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia is just that — a heartfelt collection borrowing twelve songs from Ian and Sylvia Tyson. Russell had been thinking about making this record for twenty years before its release. It includes twelve tracks plus two previously unissued demos sung by Ian and Sylvia themselves: “The French Girl” and “Grey Morning.”

Russell’s versions, recorded with Cindy Church and Grant Siemens, feature “Wild Geese,” “Rio Grande,” “Play One More,” “Red Velvet,” “These Friends of Mine,” “The Renegade,” and several surprises — including two co-writes with Ian and Sylvia that Tom had never recorded before.

For those unfamiliar with Ian & Sylvia: they were a celebrated Canadian folk duo of the 1960s and ’70s, best remembered for Ian’s “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon,” and Sylvia’s “You Were On My Mind.” They also covered Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” and Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game.”

I confess I was never a big Ian & Sylvia fan, but Tom Russell’s interpretations may change that. This is a wonderfully consistent collection — Russell’s voice and storytelling bring fresh life to these classics. My current favorites are “Wild Geese” and “Rio Grande,” though “Play One More,” “Sam Bonnifield’s Saloon,” and “Red Velvet” aren’t far behind.

Anyway, check it out!

Something Blue(s): Coco Montoya – Hard Truth

The something blue(s) that completes the weekend playlist is the album that’s spent the most time in my rotation lately — Hard Truth from Coco Montoya. This is one damn good album, and the proof is in the pudding: it hit number one on the Roots Music Blues Chart last week and is still holding strong this week.

My first encounter with Coco Montoya was in the 1980s when he played lead guitar with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Since then, a few of his solo releases have caught my attention — including his 1997 release Just Let Go, which is in my music library.

For me, though, Hard Truth may be his best album yet — or at least my favorite. There isn’t a weak track here, and throughout the album both Montoya’s guitar work and vocals shine.

My favorite tracks include “Before the Bullets Fly,” “I Want to Shout About It,” and “Old Habits Are Hard to Break.” I added these three to the playlist below — the finishing touches to this first “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue” musical journey.

Both Phil Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor and several Ian & Sylvia albums — plus an Ian Tyson solo record — now sit proudly in my vinyl collection. Not a bad soundtrack for a weekend that covered the old, the new, the borrowed, and the blue.