The famous spiritual is often associated with American country music and Merle Travis but it was a black spiritual long before that. More importantly, it had a double meaning about the underground railroad.
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It takes guts to video your gig playing in the lobby of a seniors home. It’s a tough room but Harlan Pepper turns a few smiles and gets them dancing in the aisles.
Since graduating from high school almost three years ago, Harlan Pepper have honed their chops with a fresh mix of alt country, folk and rock.
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Christmas in the Heart (artwork Sony Music)
Bob Dylan’s Christmas gift to fans this year only has one of his songs.
Bob Dylan was executive producer of The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams.
Hank Williams wrote the lyrics decades ago but didn’t finish the songs.
Dylan enlisted a who’s who of country, indie and rock music to make those lyrics come alive.
Every Christmas for ages I have looked forward to some Bob Dylan gift in my stocking.
Hank Williams, his unfinished songs brought to life
From the Alan Jackson’s honky-tonk You’ve Been Lonesome Too to Merle Haggard’s reverential The Sermon on the Mount, The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams is a treasure.
These are Hank Williams Sr. songs we never heard before and it’s at treat.
There is more life, fun and good music here than in most country CDs in the past while.
Maybe these are not the Top 10 Hank Williams songs we already know by heart but they are Hank Williams and they’re fresh. Continue reading
Red Shea pickin’ and grinnin’
Gordon Lightfoot’s guitarist is caught in a rare video on YouTube.
His playing was legendary for style, speed and humor. Shea, who passed away in 2008, played on most of Lightfoot’s early recordings. He left the road band in 1972 and became a TV studio musician for Tommy Hunter.
Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert
If there is one Bob Dylan concert to have on video, it’s the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration from 1992. I’ll try to thread my way through the various versions available today.
Ironically Bob Dylan only sings on 5 of the 30 plus songs but it’s a who’s who of rock and roll and country singing Bob Dylan. Continue reading
Levon Helm wows Fredericton Harvest Blues Festival
Bill Monroe and Doc Watson, Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival 1969
A random tweet pointed me to this great concert from two giants of country and bluegrass music.
I couldn’t believe my luck in hearing Bill Monroe picking and singing in the left speaker and Doc Watson clear as a bell in the right.
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Ginger St. James at the Elephant and Castle, Halifax, NS (Hipstamatic photo by Stephen Pate)
A trip to Halifax for business turned into a chance meeting with ex-burlesque performer Ginger St. James.
St. James was well known in Southern Ontario as a regular on the burlesque circuit – yes it still exists despite the prevalence of strip clubs in Ontario. Continue reading
The Band in concert 1973, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko (pic Wolfgang's Vault)
Wolfgang’s Vaults has added streaming videos of rock concerts to the existing thousands of audio streams.
I should be working but I’m so buzzed after listening to The Rollin Stones from 1981 and this 1983 concert from The Band. (corrected from my error “1973″)
Click on the link now. Don’t wait. Try it. It’s free.
The link opens in another window so you can finish reading while the music plays.
Early releases include an impressive list of who’s who of rock music: The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Grateful Dead, Lynryd Skynyrd and Muddy Waters. Continue reading
By Noam Shpancer, Ph.D., Psychology Today
Once in a while one wishes to take a break from the brokenness of life and turn one’s mind to the goodness of it–its delicate pleasures; the art, the music, the poetry. Continue reading