Sweet Revenge (1973) is the album that resulted from these sessions. I saw Prine play some of the songs earlier at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. I recall “Please Don’t Bury Me” and “The Accident”.
Category: Music
Robert Frank and Cocksucker Blues
Robert Frank was a great photographer. He is best known for his1958 book The Americans which was the subject of an excellent 2009 exhibit at the National Gallery of Art (which I saw) and an accompanying book. Audio related to the exhibit is here.
Frank’s photos were used on the cover for the 1972 Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St. Frank also made a film about the Stones 1972 US tour, Cocksucker Blues, which has never been released. It is on YouTube. The album cover used images from The Americans as well as new photos of the band. The front cover photo is actually a collage.
I have a framed plate-signed print of the album cover.
Covers: K. C. Moan
K. C. Moan is a Memphis Jug Band song from 1929. (The list of versions is from the great Second Hand Songs site.) It was included in Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. A cover by Geoff Muldaur is on The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited which is based on Tribute concerts.
Nashville sessions by Bob Dylan
This is an excellent video about the three albums Dylan recorded in Nashville – Blonde on Blonde (1966), John Wesley Harding (1967) and Nashville Skyline (1969).
Blonde on Blonde is my favorite Dylan album. I don’t think the songs are better than on Highway 61 Revisited but the musicians are. The backing is much more subtle unlike the pounding on Highway 61 Revisited. John Wesley Harding was released during the same period that the Beatles and Stones (and others) succumbed to the excesses of psychedelia. It was out of step then but sure sounds better now than Their Satanic Majesties Request.
Covers: The Ballad of Casey Jones/Casey Jones
Casey Jones was a real person. He was a railroad engineer who was killed when his train collided with another train. Several songs are based on his life and death.
“The Ballad of Casey Jones” is the best-known song inspired by him. It was written about 1909
“Casey Jones” by the Grateful Dead was released in 1970. It’s not faithful to the actual events. This is my favorite Grateful Dead song. It’s concise (which many of their songs weren’t). It looks to the past (old country blues songs which influential on the band.) It looks to the present with the cocaine references. It’s old and modern at the same time.
Warren Zevon and David Lindley covered the Grateful Dead version.
June is Accordion Awareness Month
June is Accordion Awareness Month. My parents’ generation loved Myron Floren who was on the Lawrence Welk show. Brave Combo plays rock polkas.
The great Clifton Chenier popularized Zydeco. Stanley Dural, better known as Buckwheat Zydeco, played with Chenier before he founded his own band. I saw Buckwheat in concert several times – he was great. He played a huge accordion. Amade Ardoin and others used the accordion in Creole music.
Garth Hudson of The Band played accordion on their records and Bob Dylan’s “On a Night Like This”.
Flaco Jimenez, the Tex Mex accordionist has also played on records by Ry Cooder and Dwight Yoakam. Europeans from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic brought the accordion to Texas and Mexico. Los Lobos from Los Angeles also uses the accordion (played by David Hidalgo).
Those Darn Accordions emphasize humor.
Loudon Wainwright III’s new song
Loudon Wainwright III has a new song about the pandemic. The link to the very clever video is in the Rolling Stone article.
I have seen him perform twice in concert. The first time was with Richard Thompson. At the end, they played a Marty Robbins song together. I also saw him open for John Prine. I recommend going to see him.
For those not familiar with his music, his only hit was “Dead Skunk” from 1972.
I encourage you to check out his album about Charlie Poole High Wide & Handsome
Covers: Surf City
Harry Smith – born 5/29/23
Harry Smith is best known for compiling the influential Anthology of American Folk Music which was originally released in 1952. It was released on 6 CDs in 1997 by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. It’s an amazing collection of all kinds of American music (including blues, folk, country, gospel, and Cajun) recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. Tribute concerts were held in 1997, 1999 and 2001. They’re all on CD and there are DVDs of the 1999/2001 ones in a set with the CDs.
Get On Board – Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
Get On Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee is the new album by Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder (released on April 22, 2022). It’s not a major work but it’s very relaxed and low-key. It sounds like music someone could make on your porch or in your backyard. I’m a big admirer of both artists and encourage you to explore their solo work. For Cooder, I suggest starting with Into The Purple Valley (1972). For Mahal, I recommend Dancing the Blues (1993). Like Get on Board, both albums revive songs that are not well known today. Cooder finds Depression obscurities like “Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All” and “How Can You Keep On Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)”. Mahal covers songs by T-Bone Walker and Fats Domino, both huge stars in their day but not popular now.
Sad! 