Caleb Caudle

We do love the simple things in life -- good tunes, a nice cuppa joe, a warm afternoon.  Well, two out of three ain't bad.

Yesterday, the temperature hovered just below 80.  Today we are struggling to get up to 50.  These wild swings are not conducive to health, physical or mental. 

The clear recourse is to sit at the computer flooded with the SAD light and listen to tunes.  One of our new favorites is Carolina Ghost by Caleb Caudle. It is getting a lot, lot, lot of play here at Doe Run Farm. 

Many people have reviewed Carolina Ghost and most of them have had a hard time reviewing it. Not because they didn't like it,  it has been universally heralded, but because they can't really pigeonhole it. 

It is a thoughtful, well written, slightly poppy Americana record.  Alas, in a time when there are more more Americana artists out there, there are virtually no outlets to listen to new music.  Americana is actually what country music was meant to be in the old fashioned and still relevant Hank Williams/Patsy Cline way, before "country" became some sort of "bros before music" frat party.

Since Christmas, my iTunes has been filled with not only Caleb Caudle, but Freakwater, Dori Freeman, Julien Baker, as well as Lucinda Williams and Loretta Lynn. Other than my kitchen, where are you going to hear a set featuring these guys?  Yes, we have been listening to Chris Stapleton whose a bit of a "bros" kinda guy.  We gave Rhiannon Giddens a pass to channel that Billie Holiday vibe, though we miss the Chocolate Drops.  We loved the new David Wax Museum and even got a Christmas present from Duquette Johnston.  And still, you need to be in my kitchen.

And speaking of my kitchen...and Caleb Caudle...and coffee, my favorite coffee roaster is in the little town of Sugar Grove, Virginia. Dark Hollow Roasters makes wonderful coffee.  You can buy it out in the world, but if you order it from Dark Hollow Roasters, it is roasted the day you order it. 

So Dark Hollow is also a fan of Caleb Caudle and recently they blended a coffee in honor of Carolina Ghost.  We do love a good theme. On this wintry spring day, we got a package from Dark Hollow Roasters with Caleb Caudle's blend, Coffee (and a prayer); a line from  his song, The Reddest Rose. It was roasted a mere three days ago and the post office was jealous because the package was wafting warm coffee aromas. 

This afternoon we are sitting in the kitchen listening to Carolina Ghost and drinking Coffee (and a prayer).  Even the cold weather can't get us down!

Clara Rockmore and GOOGLE

Today is Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday.  Clearly the virtuosos of the theremin would be a Pisces! In an homage to Rockmore, today's Google doodle offers a lesson in theremin playing.  Click and see.

While the theremin was the favorite instrument of 1950's and 60's science fiction, it was not, as is often reported, played in the theme song to Star Trek.

In 1927, the inventor of the theremin, a Russian physicist named Lev Sergeyevich Termen, played his instrument in London to a crowd that included George Bernard Shaw among others.  Thermen changed his name to Leon Theremin and boasted that one day every home would have a theremin.  One of the early theremin enthusiasts was a kid named Robert Moog.  He began building theremins and would later developed the synthesizer often called the Moog.  Today Moog's company not only sells synthesizers, but one of its best sellers is the theremin.

Theremin was an interesting cat! With all the repetitive biopics out there, one would think that Theremin's story is ripe for the picking.  Theremin might have been a Soviet spy.  He was madly in love with Clara Rockemore who refused to marry him.  He later married Lavinia Williams, a prima ballerina with the American Negro Ballet.  Williams believed that he was kidnapped by the Soviet Union and spirited out of America, but the actual reason he left abruptly has been greatly disputed.

As for Rockmore, her performance of Camille Saint-Saëns' The Swan is considered one of her finest.



   

If you want to here more of Rockmore, might I suggest her CD, The Art of the Theremin.

 

 Now click on that doodle and practice, practice, practice.

Freakwater's Scheherazade

After nearly eleven long years, one of my favorite bands -- ever -- of all time --  bar none -- released a new album.  I love Freakwater. And yes, they did release and album and CD and download entitled Scheherazade.  It is a great title for a Freakwater album as they are wonderful storytellers.

Freakwater has always been fronted by Janet Beveridge Bean and Catherine Irwin.  They produce raw and aching harmonies that one can never forget.  In a world of cookie cutter pop songs and predictable country, Freakwater is a breathtaking alternative.  Often tossed in the alt-country pile, they are much more. 

Their lyrics seem straight forward, but they often have a undercurrent of pain like salty chips on a cut lip.  And then, so funny and poignant one cannot help but smile.  The writer Chris Parker might have written the best description of the band (damn, I wish I had written this.)

"Freakwater is a 27-year-old Chicago-by-way-of-Louisville, Ky., combo founded by singer/guitarists Janet Beveridge Bean and Catherine Irwin, whose vocals intertwine like vines climbing a country-folk trellis in the Carter Family's backyard."

Well that is exactly what they sound like.  Actually, it is the old Carter family, channeling  Maybelle and Sara into snarky, wicked lyrics.

I once had the band playing in the background. A friend heard them and had little appreciation for the melancholy twang.  But to this day, she still remembers them.  To have such a unique sound; one that lingers in the mind years later, that is greatness.  Be forewarned by this story, not everyone will be drawn to the music, but if you give it a chance, Scheherazade might become your favorite album of the year.  In fact, you might just buy every album Freakwater ever recorded and play them over and over again, like I do.

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.

A Long Day at the End of the World

A while back, I became a bit disinterested in fiction.  It just seemed to me that real life was far more interesting.  Case in point -- A Long Day at the End of the World.  Brent Hendricks' memoir reads like the most exquisite piece of fiction.  If fact, his story is so downright preposterous that one might think it was fiction.  News reports prove the truth and noting but the truth; what there is of the truth, anyway.

Hendricks tells the story of the Tri-State Crematory.   Back in 2002, hundreds of abandoned and decayed corpses were discovered in a small town in Georgia.  It was the the largest mass desecration of remains in modern American history.  There were 339 bodies resting in various states of disarray around the Tri-State Crematory.  When the investigation concluded only 226 of the bodies were identified.

Brent Marsh had taken over the family business.  He plead guilty and is serving 12 years.  The guilty plea offered no explanation into why Marsh cremated some of the remains and simply dumped others.

One of the bodies dumped was Brent Hendricks' father.  He had been dead for many years when he was sent to the Tri-State Crematory.  Hendricks' mother wanted her husband's body disinterred from his burial plot and cremated.  Her children went along with the plan and five years later, found that the cremains sitting on their mother's mantel were not their father, but bits of cement and animal bone.

Hendricks heads out on the back roads of the deep South to find out exactly what happened to his father.  Most reviewers call this book "Southern Gothic" but in the South were refer to it as Tuesday.  Truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.   A Long Day at the End of the World is a lamentation of the bond between parents and children, a mystery with no end, a exploration of death, and a damn fine read.

In fact, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers were so moved by the book that wrote a song, Roswell.  Give it a listen.

Rabbit Rabbit Radio

 Cormac McCarthy had been publishing books for years before he had a best seller.   He would write a book and the publisher would print 5000 copies.  It would sell about 1000 and the rest were remaindered or worst, pulped.   When he did get famous, droves of people came up to him and swore they had been reading him for years.  McCarthy did the math and soon realized this was not true.  If all of those people had been reading and buying his work, he would have been on the best seller list from the start. 

Every couple of years I run into Matthias Bossi at a wedding or a really great party.  I always tell him I love his music and I love Carla Kihlstedt's music.  I tell him I listened to Tin Hat back when they were a trio.  He smiles, but I can't help but think he is doing that Cormac McCarthy math.

Well, today, the New York Times ran an article about Matthias and Carla and their subscription radio service, Rabbit Rabbit Radio.  Check it out.


Really, Matthias, Still You Lay Dreaming is one of my faves.

Requiescat in Pace -- The Civil Wars

During all the Election coverage last night we were saddened to learn that one of our FAVE bands broke up!  We will not be retuning to Barton Hollow as The Civil Wars is no more. 

Calling Me Home

I don't listen to a lot of Kathy Mattea, but she is from West Virginia.  Her new album is rooted in West Virginia, so we have been listening to it this weekend, and we have been loving it.  So if you like bluegrass with some country, or if your are from West Virgina or passing through, check it out.

How to be a Movie Producer...

...without even trying.


Have you ever wanted to be a movie producer but life got in your way?

Maybe you don't live in New York City or L.A.  (Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama.)

Maybe you don't have 50 million or 50 hundred. (But you do have $5 tucked into your pocket.)

Well do not despair.  Add that movie producer credit to your bucket list and head over to Kickstarter.

As you know, Kickstarter is a place where small projects can get big funding from some rich folks and poor folks like you (or me).  The Winding Stream got the money for their initial filming from Kickstarter and now they are working on the post-production.  (Truth is, they have accomplished their goal and their fundraising technically ends today.)


The Winding Stream is Beth Harrington's detailed documentary about the Carter Family.  While most of the general population knows the Carter Family because of Johnny Cash.  If it hadn't been for the Carter Family, Johnny Cash might have slipped into obscurity and much of the music we hear every day would be sadly lacking without the original inspiration from Maybelle, Sara and A.P. Carter.    Please take look at the preview of MY film...

Now head over to Kickstarter and find a project that you can be a part of.

Alabama Shakes

We are feeling rather "tunie" these days and we do love sharing our music with you. My new favorite band is Alabama Shakes. Yes, Virginia, they are from Alabama and while we might just be swayed by that fact, they are just plain great. Lead singer Brittany Howard has been compared to EVERYBODY : the short list: Janice Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner and even Jack White. BRITTANY HOWARD. That is all you need to know.

There has been a great deal of hype about the Alabama Shakes. All of it is true. The basic story is this...

Once upon a time in Athens, Alabama...

Brittany Howard wants to start a band. She asks Zac Cockrell, who happens to be in her psychology class, but more importantly, plays bass and wears cool band t-shirts, if he wants to write songs.

Over at the music store, the only music store in Athens, Alabama, Steve Johnson plays drums and Howard invites him along for the ride. They record some songs and Heath Fogg, who plays guitar and was in the coolest band ever to come out of Athens, Alabama (this statement is no longer true.) asks the trio to open for his band. They said sure if you will play with us.

And...

The rest is history.



Buy Boys and Girls. It will be your go to CD for summer fun.

A Church That Fits Our Needs

I have been listening repeatedly to Lost In The Trees disk, A Church That Fits Our Needs. It is rather hard to stuff into a box. Lost In The Trees is a folky, slightly orchestral band from North Carolina. Shortly after lead songwriter Ari Picker's wedding, his mother committed suicide. She stares out from the cover, looking a bit like a Renaissance painting.

The album asks profound and impossible to answer question about mortality,which could easily lead a lesser songwriter into a self-indulgent macabre exercise. Picker, however, offers up lyrical possibilities that build to a transformative catharsis. While this album is about death, it finds a way to transcend it. Beautiful and haunting, every listen brings out something new. In an era where music can be be banal, A Church That Fits Our Needs is on its way to becoming the best album of the year.

B*tches In Bookstores

Hardcore rapper and bad boy extraordinaire, Kanye (it always looks like one should pronounce it Can Yee to Mee) West and his buddy Jay-Z preform this rap entitle N*ggas in Paris. I am not sure if it a slur if you misspell it and I am growing very fond of adding an "*" to slightly alter spellings like that will assuage one's damaged sensibilities. It's like watching everyone on Battlestar Galactica use the word frack for f*ck, like every eight year-old in the room doesn't know what frack means. If frack means f*ck, then isn't it just as offensive... but I digress (and did I just admit to watching Battlestar Galactica?)

Moving right along...It would seem that these two young women, Annabelle Quezada and La Shea Delaney decided to parody Kanye's ditty which is also known as the Ball so Hard song. Instead of ballin' in Paris, these girls are readin' at the Strand and tossing out any ballers who mispronounce Proust! It is a fine weekend interlude. So watch this and then grab a book or head out to your fave bookstore.

Lyrics to Bitches in Bookstores.

Read so hard librarians tryin’ ta FINE me­,
They can’t identify me,
Checked in with a pseudonym, so I guess you can say I’m Mark Twaining.
Read so hard, I’m not lazy.
Go on Goodreads, so much rated.
Fountainhead, on my just read, gave it four stars, and then changed it.
Read so hard, I’m literary.
Goosebumps series, TOO SCARY!

Animal Farm, Jane Eyre
Barnes & Nobles, Foursquare it
No TV, I read instead
Got lotsa Bills, but not bread
BURROUGHS , GOLDING, SHAKESPEARE – all dead

Read so hard, got paper cuts
On trains while you're playin’ connect the dots
All these blisters from turning pages
Read so hard, I’m seeing spots

Your Sudoku just can’t compare
Nor Angry Birds cos lookit here
My Little Birds is getting stares
(pause)
This print’s rare.

Read so hard, I memorize, The Illiad... I know lines.
Watch me spit, classic lit, epic poems that don’t rhyme.
War and Peace, piece of cake, read Tolstoy in 3 days.
Straight through, no delays.
Didn’t miss a word. Not one phrase.

Read so hard librarians tryin’ ta fineee me - That shit cray x 3
Read so hard librarians tryin’ ta fineee me – That shit cray x 3

He said Shea can we get married at the Strand
His Friday Reads are bad so he can’t have my hand
You ball so hard, OK you’re bowling
But I read so hard, I’m JK Rowling

That shit cray
Ain’t it, A? What you readin’?
AQ: DeMontaigne.
You use a Kindle? I carry spines.
Supporting bookshops like a bra, Calvin Klein.

Nerdy boy, he’s so slow
Tuesday we started Foucault
He’s still stuck on the intro? He’s a no go.
It’s sad I had to kick him out my house though –
He Mispronounced an author - MARCEL PROUST

Don’t read in the dark
I highlight with markers
While laying in the park
And wearing Warby Parkers
Marriage Plot broke my heart
And it made me read Barthes
I special ordered a
A softcover not hard- HUAH?AHEHA?!

Read so hard libraries tryin’ ta fine me x 2

I am now marking my place
Don’t wanna crease on my page
Don’t let me forget this page
Don’t let me forget this page
I may forget where I left off so I’ll use this little post it…
I hope it doesn’t fall out, I hope that it stays stickie…

I am now marking my place
Don’t wanna crease on my page
Don’t let me forget this page
I got bookmarks at home
But I forgot one for the road
AQ: I got a bookmark I can loan
La Shea: Know how many bookmarks I own?

I am now bookmarking my page x3
DON’T LET ME FORGET THIS PAGE -age-age-age-age-age.

Think Different

In 1890, Thomas Edison sent his assistants to the home of the Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson to record his voice on wax cylinders. For 1:16 minutes, Tennyson read from The Charge of the Light Brigade. As far as I know, it was the only time his voice was recorded. I listened to that recording this morning on my iPod.

In my personal opinion the greatest achievement of the 20th century is the iPod. I will never be able to thank Steve Jobs enough. In the nonstop coverage since word of his death literally shut down twitter, he is often compared to Thomas Edison. There are over 31,000 recordings on my iPod, including Lord Tennyson reciting The Charge of the Light Brigade.


I have 131 songs with "Lucinda" in the title and 158 songs sung by women named "Lucinda."

I have 41 covers of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, as well as 35 Cohen covers in Polish

I have a recording of 4 year old evangelist, Marjoe Gortner preaching and 236 shapenote singers



I have most of the dance music ever recorded for the Martha Graham dance company

I have an album of Anthony Perkins singing, his sister-in-law, Marisa Berenson singing, and every CD his son, Elvis Perkins, has recorded (including his shapenote singing.)



I have Vita Sackville-West discussing Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Grace Higgens, Virginia Woolf's cooks disusing all the painters she sat for, in addition to her cooking, and Virginia Woolf, herself speaking about "craftsmanship."

There are four generations of the Carter family keeping the circle unbroken.



I have Maya Angleou singing calypso, Sebastian Cabot singing Bob Dylan, Vincent Price reciting his recipe for rumaki, and Jessica Mitford covering the Beatles.

There is ABBA to Zooey Deschanel.

There are Kate Bush, Kate Campbell, Kate Fagan, Kate Gafney, Kate Havenvik, Kate MacKenzie, Kate McGarrigle, Kate Mann, Kate Micucci, Kate Nash, Kate Rusby, Kate Taylor, Kate Walsh, Kate York, and Kiss Me, Kate.

There are 2221 Christmas songs, including the Jingle Cats, the Chipmunks, the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Roaches. I could go on and on for 77 days, 14 hours, 29 minutes, and 13 seconds.



And every last song fits into the pocket of my Levi's. Thanks, Steve.

I Love Mail...

Lurch & Holler at the Transmodern Festival 2009

...so today when I went to get my mail, I found I had a package. Now said package did not look at all familiar so I just kinda grabbed it and as I was stepping out of the Post Office I noticed the return address was from EEDowning and I smiled.

Downing grew up in Dadeville, Alabama. Much like "Eloise at the Plaza" Lizzie was the "Emma Elizabeth of the Heart of Dixie Motel" the business her parents owned. She was in her own words:

"...influenced by peeping Toms, traveling Evangelists, circus people, birds in the woods and a mother who sang constantly."

She moved to Baltimore to study painting and formed one of the most influential bands of the age, Lambs Eat Ivy. Well, I loved it and clearly it did not get the recognition it deserved, but I digress...


Any who...tucked into my envelope was a new CD by Lizzie's current band, Lurch & Holler featuring Michael Willis who was also in Lambs Eat Ivy. They describe their music as Appalachian parlor operettas and parables. It is weird and haunting and unlike anything you will ever hear, unless, of course, you listen to Lurch & Holler.



As if that wasn't enough, she is a member of Old Songs, a group that translates and creates songs from Ancient Greek philosophy and poetry. Did I mention she paints?

Bosch Figure on the Banks of the Tallapoosa River.

While I was very happy to get an envelope from Liz, I must admit that it leaves me feeling a bit under- accomplished. I think I am going to go take a nap and dream of Hermes in Alabama.

Shame, Shame, Shame

There is rehab for being a horn dog? Who'd a thunk it.

Anthony Weiner doesn't need rehab, he needs and old-fashioned ass whuppin'. (And, let me just say, I loved Anthony Weiner.) Now I am just disgusted.

What happened to shame in our society? Seriously, he should be ashamed. He should be staying inside his house, not running to the ATM. Resign, now. (And, let me just say, I loved Anthony Weiner.)

The problem with real life is the lack of a soundtrack. So here is our Weiner Soundtrack of Shame:

Pamplmousse Beat It
Blondie Call Me
Johnny Cash It Ain't Me Babe
Lee Ann Womack Liars Lie
Shirley and Company Shame Shame Shame
A Fine Frenzy Liar, Liar
Molly Ivins It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
Lucinda Williams Ramblin' On My Mind
Ed Harcourt 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
Mae West He's A Bad, Bad Man
Lily Allen Womanizer
Joey & Rory Cheater, Cheater
Bob Dylan Quit Your Low Down Ways
Elbow Grounds For Divorce
Sunny Sweeney Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
Paul Kelly Rehab

Enjoy! And remember, NOTHING is private on the web, so please don't tweet me photos of your undies, whether you are in them or not!

Baby, How Can It Be?

With Valentine's Day looming, we would like to suggest the perfect gift for those y'alternative tune lovers that you love.

Baby, How Can It Be?

This is another great compilation by those cooler than cool folks over at Dust-to-Digital. You may remember a post we did on another Dust-to-Digital favorite, Take Me To The Water.

Well, now that we are out there looking for just the right gift for our loved ones (or even if we are just in the mood to love ourselves) give Baby, How Can It Be? a try.

No Depression said of the set:

"The three disc collection is culled from the record collection of John Heneghan and features everything from Appalachian folk and Dixieland jazz to Hawaiian ballads and cowboy songs. Virtually every form of roots music can be found here, from artists as well known as Uncle Dave Macon and Cab Calloway, to those such as Henry Thomas who should be familiar to devotees of the eras music, to complete unknowns like Hazel Scherf and Davey Miller... In short, the set provides hours of great, rarely heard music from the Golden Age of Recording and would be the perfect gift for the roots music fan in your life."

What more can I say. Come on, EVERYBODY gives flowers and candy -- Be original and give the gift of music.

More Free Christmas Tunes

The folks at Paste Magazine not only offer a "build your own subscription" but this week they are offering the Paste Holiday Sampler. We are suckers for Christmas music...especially the FREE kind. Enjoy.

Christmas Tunes From Target

If you like that hip hop tune on the Target commercial it is a song called Toy Jackpot by Blackalicious. Target is offering a free download of 14 Christmas songs. A great deal.

You Say You Want A Revolution

It's OFFICIAL. The Beatles are on iTunes. Techies can breath a sigh of relief. to commemorate this monumental occasion, Cookbook Of The Day is featuring a Beatles cookbook. But what you might want to see is the picture of... I guess you will just have to go there and find out for yourself.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan

One of my favorite movies is Dusan Makavejev's Montenegro. Montenegro is a slightly soft-core pastiche of Ingmar Bergman films. It is Susan Anspach's best work. Many people, including Vincent Canby, felt it might just make her a star. As far as I know, Montenegro was her last film.

The Cliff Notes version: Bored housewife (Anspach) with lovely kids, a Swedish husband and a big house meets Yugoslavian immigrants at the airport and becomes drawn to their gypsy life.

In 1981, the movie was the first "comedy" screened at Cannes. I wouldn't say it was a comedy, in fact at times it is rather sad. Still, I have always loved the film. It ends with Marianne Faithful's haunting rendition of The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan was written by Shel Silverstein.

Shel Silverstein wrote quite a few memorable songs and they have recently been compiled into a tribute album, Twistable Turnable Man.

Twistable Turnable Man features Lucinda Williams covering The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.

I have been listening to the CD, endlessly. I think The Ballad of Lucy Jordan was never covered because Marianne Faithful's version is just so poignant. Lucinda Williams gives it her best shot, but hear-to-head, I thing Marianne wins. That being said, I love the CD.

Both Twistable Turnable Man and Montenegro are available on Amazon. Montenegro, alas, is not available on Netflix, so you will have to score a nice used copy or you can come to Shirley and we will watch it together.