get musicated

Hayes Carll - "Another Like You"
Hayes is an amazing Texas songwriter.  You will need to press "Watch on YouTube" after pressing play but this is a hilarious video, worth watching for sure.  Great song, hilarious video.

Mr. Bojangles, a song I have paid no attention to until now.  It took Todd Snider and his new album, Time as We Know IT (The Songs of Jerry Jeff Walker), to open my eyes to it.  Mr. Bojangles is about a street performer in New Orleans who Jerry Jeff Walker met while spending 3 days in the parish jail for public intoxication in 1965.  He talked about how he would dance for folks in bars and they would, in turn, buy him drinks.  As the night wore on he would eventually be picked up and carted off to the drunk tank.  The mood and stories were all pretty lively in the cell until he told the story of travels with and the death of his dog.

This song has been done many times and below I want to provide you with a few renditions, hopefully one will be your favorite and will turn you on to the song, and the other songs of Jerry Jeff Walker, as it did for me.

Enjoy and go listen to some Jerry Jeff Walker.

The first version we will here is, of course, JJW and the actual 45 record released in 1968.

Iris DeMent will release "Sing the Delta" on 10/02/12.  This is her first album since her collection of gospel tunes in 2004.  Can't wait to she what she has come up with.  Why did I not know she was married to Greg Brown until now?  I am getting musicated too folks, that is what it is all about.  Here is a little sample to get you ready for the album.

Teddy Thompson is the son of musicians Richard and Linda Thompson, born February 19th, 1976 in a London commune.  He has big shoes to fill being the son of music royalty.  If you have something to say to an ex lover of yours or someone else you do not like, Teddy can help.  Teddy Thompson has a way of saying things in his songs that are new, refreshing and at times, downright mean.  Songs like "That's Enough of out You", "I Wish It Was Over", "You Finally Said Something Good When You Said Goodbye" and "Separate Ways" are great examples.  

The beginning of "I Wish It Was Over"  will give you a good idea of the kind of songwriting I am speaking of:

"I wish it was over, I wish we were through,

I wish when my phone rang, it wasn't always you,

I don't even like you, or can't you tell,

Whenever I'm sober, I treat you like hell"

You don't have to have been romantically involved with someone to feel the need to tell them off.  "That's Enough Out of You" is the perfect song for that.

"Hey now, that's enough out of you,

I get tired, just watching your jaw move,

People that talk this much have nothing to say

You're so up there, well it brings me down,

I wanna turn your smile, into a frown

Being happy is easy if you're dumb"

Amazing stuff really.  If you get interested and need some new tunes, check out the "Separate Ways" and "Upfront and Down Low" albums, you will be happy you did.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Teddy on Jools Holland - "Everybody Move It" and "I Wish It Was Over"

Enjoy!  Feel free to message me or comment if you need song or album suggestions for Teddy.

Emmylou Harris and John Prine - "Magnolia Wind"




Shawn Colvin - "All He Wants is You"



James McMurtry - "Cold Dog Soup"




Willie Nelson - Desperados Waiting for a Train

Gram Parsons has been and will continue to be an influence on many singers and songwriters.  Without GP's influence on the Rolling Stones and his friendship with Keith Richards, we may not have heard "Wild Horses"  and the sound on Exile on Main Street would have been much different.  Without Gram I don't believe that  alt-country would be what it is today.  Tragically, he was one of those artists who struggled throughout his career and life.  Gram was born Cecil Ingram Connor on Nov. 5th, 1946, to Avis and Cecil "Coon Dog" Connor.  Parsons would come later when he took the name of his adopted father, Robert Parsons.  His family owned multiple properties and spent their time in Waycross, Ga, and Winter Haven, Fl. where Gram was born.  In Winter Haven is where his family, on his mother's side, made their fortune in the Citrus industry.  Gram's childhood was privileged as far as money was concerned but it was not an easy one.  Both of his parents were alcoholics and his mother battled depression.  His father took his own life two days before Christmas when Gram was just 12 years old.  His mother died of cirrhosis of the liver just a few years later in 1965, on the day Gram graduated from the Bolles School.

At the age of 12, Gram also started his first band playing mostly Buddy Holly tunes.  He played in quite a few bands in his short career.  In 1966 Gram attended Harvard briefly where he formed the International Submarine Band.  Later with the Byrds, Gram was present for their biggest album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo.  Gram and Chris Hillman formed the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1969 and wrote one of my favorites, Sin City.  He and Emmy Lou teamed up next to create some amazing harmonies.  Emmy Lou was and still is the greatest champion of Gram Parsons.  There is so much more to learn about this man and his life but I just wanted to peak your interest a bit here.

Gram died of an overdose of alcohol and morphine on Sept. 9, 1973 in a hotel in Joshua tree.  We have lost too many artists this way.  Todd Snider mentions Gram along with quite a few others in his song about this very tragic fate in "Alcohol and Pills."  Gram's inability to gain the respect he deserved in the music industry continued as the day after Gram's death, we lost Jim Croce in a plane crash.  Most of you know the fictionalized story of Gram Parson's death from the Johnny Knoxville movie, Grand Theft Parsons.  Knoxville plays Phil Kaufman who, with a friend, carry out Gram's wishes to be cremated and have his ashes  spread at Joshua Tree.  This involved the theft of his body from the Los Angeles airport in a hearse as you see in the movie.  What a wild ride he had during and after his short life.

Let's get to some music now.  Here is "A Song for You" from GP. 

I really enjoy music and as you can see from my site header, my love of music is not limited by genre.  I have always enjoyed sharing music and am hoping this blog will be another medium of doing so, with links to songs and videos and my thoughts on the songs and the artists.  Why would anyone care about what I have to say about music?  Maybe they (you) won't, but I am hopeful that through this blog I can introduce some new music to a few people, which is something that makes me happy. 

To get started, here is a little information about my musical tastes.  From the beginning my taste in music has been pretty varied.  My first concert was Eddy Arnold and The Lennon Sisters at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Ga, where I heard him go through the hits like "Tennessee Stud" and "Cattle Call."  I was young but still remember this one and remember enjoying it.  Next up was the Oak Ridge Boys, The Rolling Stones, Motley Crue, then Jimmy Buffet.  I was exposed to many different genres in the car and at home on the stereo.  I was lucky enough to have two pops, one exposing me to Southern Rock bands like The Marshall Tucker Band, The Allman Brothers and Journey, while pop #2 gave me a heavy dose of bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.  In my grandparents car I got classic and 80's country like Randy Travis, The Judds, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.  I can remember vividly a time with my Granny in her light blue Thunderbird land yacht hearing The Judds sing "Why Not Me."  I have no idea why this song and that moment has stuck with me but it did and I go back to that moment every time I hear the song.  While this was going on I was in my room listening to Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Anthrax and a mixed bag of albums and 45's.  If I was in my basement spinning on a piece of cardboard, I was listening to the Fat Boys and Whodini. If I was on my skateboard, it was Anthrax or Metallica.

Next it was off to college and the land of jam bands.  Here I was introduced to the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews (although this one did not really take) and of course, Phish.  After college I proceeded to attend about 20 Phish shows, as well as many other concerts. At this time all I wanted to do was see live music.  A little later I moved to Asheville, NC, where I spent a lot of time listening to bluegrass, funk and jazz.  Artists such as Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, Doc Watson, Galactic, Weather Report, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Karl D all got plenty of play at this time.  As my tastes evolved I came to really love the song and the story that it tells.  This led me to the singer/songwriter genre as well as alt-country.  Everything else took a back seat to Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, RYAN ADAMS, Bob Dylan, and Steve Earle, to name just a few. There are artists and genres I haven't mentioned that get plenty of play today.  Madeleine Peyroux, Nina and other lovely ladies like Gillian Welch, Frazey Ford, Ani, Patty, Nanci, Emmy Lou, Shelby and Lucinda.  Hip hop is not excluded either, with artists like Tribe, Pharcyde, De La Soul, Cee Lo Green and Outkast.  There is so much wonderful music out there and I enjoy just about all of it, although there are exceptions.  So in a nutshell, this is the reason for the blog.