Check out Today's Top Tune on KCRW -- "Foregone" by The Decemberists. A smooth, twangy mellow jam from a new EP that features b-sides from one of my favorite albums of the year, The King Is Dead.
Lush and dreamy. Musically, it reminds me of one of my favorite songs, Godley and Creme's "Cry." The lyrics bring to mind George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord."
According to the Nashville Skyline column on CMT.com, the Alan Jackson's new album, Freight Train features a title track penned by Fred Eaglesmith, one of my favorite singer songwriters.
The original version appears on Eaglesmith's classic album Drive-In Movie. It's a rave-up roots classic featuring sharp, gritty lyrics of love lost, but not quite forgotten.
Wish I was a freight train baby
Wish I didn't have a heart
And you'd need a shovel for the coal
Just to get me started
Check out live performances by Eaglesmith on YouTube and various live versions of the song, as well as the original. And check out Alan Jackson's take on his latest album when it's released March 30 (available for pre-order on Amazon.)
This one starts with the "famous" Eaglesmith elephant joke:
Here are some of the songs and videos that have been in heavy rotation in the Radio Barz universe this weekend.
I've been on a major Neil Young binge, particularly around the song "Cowgirl in the Sand." Brings back those lazy summer afternoons in the 1970s when time crawled and possibilities were endless. Good to see that Neil can still bring it in all his ragged glory in this October 2008 concert in Calgary. Also a great live version now available on the Neil Young Archives, Volume I, from a 1970 performance at the Fillmore East.
Still laugh when I watch Will Ferrell's rendition of "Freebird" from the last episode of the Tonight Show with Conan.
But my song of the day is by Charlotte Gainsbourg's from her entrancing new album, IRM, "Trick Pony" as performed on the 1-22-10 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. Good funky stuff. Turn up shose drums.
Need a little something to get started this morning? May I recommend The Heavy – How You Like Me Now? from the band's album The House that Dirt Built.
Caught the band on Letterman last week. Solid rock-funk stuff. Love the beat. Dig that skeleton horn section.
Check out the official video and a tape of the Letterman performance below. And check out Dave declaring, "Here's your American idol!" I think he likes The Heavy. Me too.
Chuck Prophet's new album, Let Freedom Ring, is a solid collection of literate roots rock. Wonderful wordplay, shimmering rock guitar and authentically rugged vocals. I could have selected any track for "song of the day." "American Man" just happened to be at the top of my playlist as I started to write this entry. Also recommended: You and Me Baby (Holding On), Hot Talk, Love Won't Keep Us Apart, and Sonny Liston's Blues.
Equal parts roadhouse soul and torch song lament. Sultry and smooth. Love the piano rhythm and the smoking organ solo. Definitely brings the midnight mood no matter what time of day it's played.
"Midnight" will appear on the Watson Twin's new album Talking to You, Talking to Me, to be released on February 9.
This may be my most listened to song since fall 2008. I was aware of the "official" version from Time Out of Mind when it was released in 1997, but the version that really caught my ear was the lead track from 2008's Official Bootleg Volume 8 Tell Tale Signs. And if that's not enough, another version of Mississippi begins the second disc of Tell Tale Signs.
I love the gritty Delta noir of this tune and the lyrics, well, they deliver a novel's worth of inspiration with each verse. Maybe that's why I've subjected myself to repeated listening. The lyrics ignite any number of daydreams and narrative possibilities -- the concept of what could happen or what may be missed if you stay a minute, an hour or a day too long.
Isn't that why we listen to certain songs and artists, for the possibilities they present and the inspiration they deliver. And as Dylan sings it in MIssissippi, "Stick with me baby. Stick with me anyhow. Things should start to get interesting right about now.
Have you listened to Mississippi? What's your favorite version?"
Even after a few hundred spins, MIssissippi remains interesting to me.
