Another year, another Bluegrass Fest in San Francisco, this weekend (Oct-5-7) in Golden Gate Park. Old favorites are returning, including Nick Lowe (when did he get so damn popular all the sudden? It's not like he's moving a ton of records), T-Bone Burnett (one of the fest highlights last year), Del McCoury, Gillian Welch, Mekons, Knitters, on and on. PLUS some new blood, including Jeff Tweedy (solo on Friday afternoon), Charlie Louvin, Neko Case, and, believe it or not, John Mellencamp. There's a reason they renamed the fest Hardly Strictly Bluegrass--which I have no beef with, as it opens the field to a wider range of roots/country/soul/grass type artists.
Here's a few highlights from last year's extravaganza:
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2006
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 7
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Spot DJ mix
Met the guy behind this new playlist widget, SpotDJ, so I've been trying it out. Here are a few songs to test it out.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
You've Lost That Loving Feeling
The music of Lee Hazlewood (free download via that link, btw) was steeped in '60s stylized pop--he wrote great material on his own, but he also did some incredible covers, including this Righteous Brothers hit. It was a highlight on the classic Nancy & Lee album. The video below, though (man, so many great Lee videos have surfaced since his death last weekend), features Swedish pop singer Siw Malmkvist.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Goodbye Lee
It wasn't a surprise to hear that Lee Hazlewood passed away this past Saturday (Aug 4, 2007), but damn it's still sad. At least he knew it was coming and could prepare -- settling back down with family, recording one final album, and living long enough to soak up the newfound attention and acclaim. Lee was the ultimate existential cowboy, pondering big questions, facing darkness, but never afraid at the same time to get a little kooky. He was a bit of a crank when I met him briefly in '95; but from the sound of things he mellowed quite a bit in recent years and welcomed the attention. Good for him, good for us.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Friday, August 03, 2007
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck has a huge catalog so it's inevitable that some great songs would get overlooked. "21 Miles to Lake Charles Prison" was one of the first Paycheck songs I heard way back when (thanks to an old thrift-store copy of his greatest hits LP), and it's stuck with me ever since. When a guy sings about his mother walking him to the train that's going to take him to prison, well, you know it's real-deal country.
Check out the song via this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?fmvysgduhpf
Monday, April 30, 2007
Charlie Louvin 2007
Some shots from Charlie Louvin's appearance at SXSW 2007 in Austin this year. 
by wolffkurt
A slideshow:
Charlie Louvin
Monday, April 09, 2007
I Forgot to Be Your Lover
William Bell is one of the greatest soul singers the genre has seen. This song slays me every time.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
South By Southwest 2007 band list!
The intial (not final final) list is out for who's playing at this year's SXSW Music Festival in Austin.
Dig:
http://2007.sxsw.com/music/festival/
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Lee Hazlewood returns
New album! And a New York Times profile to back it up! Who'd ever have thought that would happen? I figured the guy was lost in the Swedish countryside (or maybe more recently, the Phoenix suburbs). Now he's not only surfacing for air but keeping above water level for an extended stay. Dig it. Album's pretty good, too--it's no "Love and Other Crimes," but it's definitely in the spirit of his classic work. "It's Nothing to Me" alone is a standout--a reworking of the Harry Johnson song that I first heard on the country comp LP "God Less America."
