Tuneful Tuesday

After waiting forEVER...St. Paul and the Broken Bones finally dropped their first full CD, Half the City.  It dropped just after midnight on iTunes and I couldn't sleep!

This CD is great.

Have you ever watched the Grammys and said,  "Who is that?"   Well next year when you watch the Grammys you will say, "I've been listening to these guys forever."  And well you should.

Lead singer Paul Janeway came to music through the church, like many an R&B singer.  He doesn't drink.  He doesn't smoke.  Which lead to the sobriquet, St. Paul.  But, sing, oh boy can this guy sing.  There is some Sam Cooke.  Some Chicago.  Some James Brown. Some Billy Graham. Some Otis Redding.  It is fun, fast, and funky. St. Paul and the Broken Bones have already been written up in Garden & Gun, Paste, and NPR. 

Give it a listen and I bet you'll buy it and hit the "repeat" button.

Tuneful Tuesday

Say what you will about the War Between the States aka the Civil War, but they had some awesome tunes.  My fave, Stephen Foster, was the Kurt Cobain of the Civil War.  Hard Times Come Again No More may well be my favorite song of all time, albeit poignant to the edge of suicidal. 

Really, though, one hasn't heard the Civil War in song until one hears the Carolina Chocolate Drops or Pokey LaFarge do the Civil War.  Then there are Ralph Stanely and Norman Blake; not to mention Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. 

It is probably a coincidence that Divide & United was released as the Smithsonian is offering up its look at Civil War artifacts in Civil War 360.  I may be a bit biased as my friends Kathy Golden and Dave Miller  offer a historical perspective on  John Singleton Mosby and J.E.B. Stuart while looking at some of their "stuff."  Of course the last big rush of Civil War tunes came about when Ken Burns' The Civil War made such a splash on PBS.  But that was long before the Old Crow Medicine Show was belting out Marching Through Georgia or Shovels and Rope (a Charleston band we keep hoping will break out big) singing The Fall of Charleston.  

I know, I know, this may not be your cup of tea or sweet tea, as it were, but if you love a heavy dose of folk-y, funky, Americana, this one is for you.

Tuesday Tunes

I love Stephen Foster.  I can't help myself.  I have over thirty covers of Hard Times Come Again, No More, probably one of the saddest songs of all times.  I have the complete recordings of Stephen Foster as sung by Nelson Eddy.  I have a rendition of Beautiful Dreamer from a Canon commercial, as well as a rendition of Oh, Susanna by the Bulgarian Women's Choir.

Doo-dah! was one of my favorite biographies.

So it is no surprise that I am always on the look-out for new recordings of Foster's music.  Which brings us to today's recommendation.

Nathan Edwards has produced a lovely collection of Stephen Foster tunes.  Recognizable Foster, but thoroughly modern with a guitar and simple vocals.   It is a very beautiful collection.  Better than Nelson Eddy.  Check it out at Bandcamp.

Tuneful Tuesday -- Americana

Neil Young reminds me of the serial killer next door.   You can just hear the neighbor saying, "We never saw him much.  He was quiet but he always nodded when he was in the yard."   Whether or not Young can carry a tune, his distinctive voice is unmistakable.


Today his first album with his iconic sixties band, Crazy Horse, was released.  Americana is just that...  sort of.  Young takes a set of songs that are American standards like Oh Susannah, Wayfaring Stranger and Darling Clementine and makes them his own.  No really, Oh Susannah and Clementine (two of my favorite songs) have totally new melodies, as if Young is somehow channeling Kurt Cobain.  Think about it.  Kurt Cobain and Stephen Foster drop acid in Purgatory and possess Neil Young and they make an album.   I will hand it to Young, he has taken a bunch of songs that are often thought of as songs to sing with the kids and brought back their original gruesomeness. 

How I missed her, how I missed her
How I missed my Clementine.
So I kissed her little sister,
And forgot my Clementine.

Rarely does this verse find its way into the children's sing-along.   

Oh Susannah is virtually unrecognizable.  (Did I mention this is one of my favorite songs?)  It the tradition of B-I-N-G-O  and D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Young sings the following:

 "I come from Alabama with my B-A-N-J-O on my knee."

Given that much of this week has been taken up with Queen's Jubilee, Young does what may be the most original version of God Save the Queen since Sid Vicious.  During the Jubilee coverage, I did have this moment during the endless playing of GSTQ when I thought to myself, "Why are they playing My Country Tis of Thee?   Young gives us the perfect amalgamation of both songs aided by a children's choir.  

I really wanted to love this, and in a way I do.  It forces the listener to hear that which we are familiar with and view it in a totally different way.  It is good to shake things up now and then.  That being said, I wanted a nice, acoustic rendition of Neil Young singing Oh Susannah in the same traditional way he does This Land Is your Land but noooo!  If he were here, I would take my B-A-N-J-O and hit him upside the head.