Category: Music

R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction

This is the first R.E.M. Disc that I bought.

Music: Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band

Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band only made one album together – The Mountain (1999). It’s a great album. Instead of recycling bluegrass standards, they recorded an album of all new Earle songs. Apparently, there was a conflict and they did not record again. See #18 in this interview with McCoury. There are bootlegs of concerts in Oslo,Norway and Malmo, Sweden with great performances. The Mountain was proceeded by one song together (“I Still Carry You Around”) on 1997’s El Corazon.

Streaming makes it hard for musicians to make money

It’s convenient for users but doesn’t pay artists well. This problem got worse during the pandemic when they couldn’t do live concerts.

From the New Republic: Music for Nothing

David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker has written about this often.

Two lists of top 80 Dylan covers

In honor of his 80th birthday on May 24th, I think the Byrds cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” is the most influential cover.

Covers recorded by The Band

I got a lot of information on the original versions from the excellent site Second Hand Songs.

Album Song Track Original artist
Big Pink Long Black Veil Lefty Frizzell
Rock of Ages Don’t Do It Side 1, track 1 Marvin Gaye
Rock of Ages Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes Side 4, Track 3 Chuck Willis
Moondog Matinee Ain’t Got No Home Side 1, track 1 Clarence “Frogman” Henry
Moondog Matinee Holy Cow Side 1, track 2 Lee Dorsey
Moondog Matinee Share Your Love Side 1, track 3 Bobby Bland
Moondog Matinee Mystery Train Side 1, track 4 Junior Parker
Moondog Matinee Third Man Theme Side 1, track 5 Anton Karas
Moondog Matinee Promised Land Side 2, track 1 Chuck Berry
Moondog Matinee The Great Pretender Side 2, track 2 The Platters
Moondog Matinee I’m Ready Side 2, track 3 Fats Domino
Moondog Matinee Saved Side 2, track 4 LaVern Baker
Moondog Matinee A Change is Gonna Come Side 2, track 5 Sam Cooke
Islands Ain’t That a Lot of Love Sam & Dave
Islands Georgia on My Mind Hoagy Carmichael
The Basement Tapes Ain’t No More Cane Side 3, track 3 Ernest Williams, James “Iron Head” Baker and Convict Group
Festival Express film Slippin’ and Slidin’ Little Richard
The Last Waltz Who Do You Love? Bo Diddley
The Last Waltz Further on Up the Road Bobby Bland
The Last Waltz Down South in New Orleans Johnny and Jack
The Last Waltz Tura Lura Lural Chauncey Olcott
The Last Waltz Baby Let Me Follow You Down Rev. Gary Davis

You should be able to find most of the original versions on YouTube

• Mystery Train has additional music and lyrics by Robertson. The most famous cover of Mystery Train is by Elvis Presley, recorded for Sun Records in Memphis which also released the original version.
• Moondog Matinee was released in late 1973 but the Band didn’t play any of it when I saw them In January 1974 with Bob Dylan. They did play Long Black Veil. They played Share Your Love when I saw them in August 1973.
• The film The Third Man (1949) is shown on TCM sometime and is a great movie. The original version of the theme was performed on a zither.
• Holy Cow was originally written and produced by Allen Toussaint who arranged the horns on Life Is a Carnival and the Rock of Ages album.
• I only included songs from The Last Waltz if the artist performing them was not the original artist
• Big Pink included songs recorded with Bob Dylan as part of the Basement Tapes but the original versions were not released until way after Big Pink. The songs are Tears of Rage, This Wheel’s on Fire, and I Shall Be Released. The first two were co-written by Dylan and Band members.
• Dylan wrote Long Distance Operator which is on The Basement Tapes. I don’t think he ever released a version of it.
• The expanded version of Rock of Ages included a cover of Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever by the Four Tops.
• Georgia on My Mind is best known by the Ray Charles version.

Music: Coffee Creek

Do you like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, early Wilco and the Bottle Rockets? If country with a rock edge is for you, check out the recordings of Coffee Creek. Coffee Creek consisted of Uncle Tupelo plus Brian Henneman (an Uncle Tupelo roadie who formed the Bottle Rockets). They performed covers of old country songs. It’s a shame this stuff was never released officially.

Here are two examples. If you like them, check out the full shows below them.

I listened to a lot of country music in the 1980s

Start with Rosanne Cash. “Seven Year Ache” was the title song of a great album and is my favorite country song from that era. A large part of what I liked was a return to more traditional country music with some rock elements thrown in.

The O’Kanes were Kieran Kane and Jamie O’Hara. They both made records after the O’Kanes split up following the release of three albums.

The Sweethearts of the Rodeo are sisters Janis Oliver and Kristine Arnold. Their first album was only about 24 minutes long and only had eight songs but it was excellent. “Since I Found You” was written by Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd.

Foster and Lloyd recorded three albums of their own. They each have had solo careers. Foster is more country and Lloyd is more power pop. You can hear both in their records they recorded together. They did a fourth album in 2011 and toured after that. It sounded like they picked up right where they left off. I saw them and they were excellent.

Dwight Yoakam is the most traditional of these artists and is heavily influenced by the Buck Owens style Bakersfield sound. I saw him a few years ago in a concert that also included Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle.

Steve Earle started out as a country singer but has branched out into rock, bluegrass and folk.

Lyle Lovett has acted in films in addition to writing and performing music. I saw him perform and he did a whole range of styles from country and bluegrass to jazz.

Compilations of primarily LA-based country music called A Town South of Bakersfield were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

I like “Hank Drank” by Bobby Lee Springfield which is clearly about Hank Williams.