Blog…and Response

The new No Depression is out. The cover story, by Barry Mazor, is on Old Crow Medicine Show. The issue also includes Don McCleese on Los Lobos, Roy Kasten on Anne McCue, Rich Kienzle on Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, and John Morthland on the new Bob Wills box set, among much more.

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Lots of great download opportunities to mention…..At Rock Over Graceland, you can snag two classic but out-of-print country guitar albums: The Merle Travis Guitar and The Guitar Stylings of Hank Snow…..Shot of Rhythm’s review of Modern Times, the new one from Bob Dylan, comes with a trio of tracks from the album…..The marvelous but elusive Bubblegum Machine has posted for the first time in many months, including an mp3 of Ellie Greenwich’s “The Sunshine After the Rain”…..Funky 16 Corners has put up another of its fantastic “Funky Nawlens” anthologies …..Locust Street offers the latest (and best, I’d say) of its “6 Cardinal Colors” series; this one includes four versions of “Mood Indigo” amidst almost two dozen purplish tracks, plus an essay on the theme…..Big Rock Candy Mountain offers a loaded-down semi’s worth of country truck-driving songs, most from the usual suspects (Dave Dudley, Red Simpson, Del Reeves, etc.) though definitely not the usual recordings, plus a truckin’ number from Kitty Wells…..

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Speaking of Miss Kitty…yesterday was that Country Music Hall of Famer’s 87th birthday. She was joined in the Hall this week by Harold Bradley (Yeah!), Sonny James (Hmmm…), and George Strait (Yeah!). We’ll have more to say about these inductions soon, but for now, congratulations all around.

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Merle Travis “Merle’s Boogie Woogie” (Capitol, 1947)

Bob Dylan “Down in the Flood” from Masked and Anonymous (Sony, 2003)

Ellie Greenwich “I Want You to Be My Baby” (United Artists, 1967)

Charlie Rich “Mood Indigo” from the out-of-print (!) Pictures and Paintings (WEA, 1992)

Kitty Wells “A Woman Half My Age” (Decca, 1966)

George Strait “When Did You Stop Loving Me” from Pure Country (MCA, 1992)

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Blog…and Response”

  1. Barry Says:
    August 31st, 2006 at 7:13 pm

    I looked in that Cantwell & Friskics-Warren book “Heartaches by the Number” to see how many Sonny James singles were in there, out of the 600 great county singles total described and–as I thought I remembered–he doesn’t have one! Hmm indeed. This is a very puzzling call l to me, considering the dozens of great and varied talents form the same 1945-197n at least slightly better cliche rock and roll love ballad with triplets thumping if Buddy Holly had lived to toy with it.

  2. Chris Says:
    September 1st, 2006 at 2:20 pm

    Wow, you thought the “purple” one was the best? I was so exhausted by that point that I felt I was running on empty while writing it. Glad it was all right.

    Seriously, thanks so much for linking to so many of that series. It’ll be a relief to get back to small posts on ’50s music this fall.

  3. David Cantwell Says:
    September 1st, 2006 at 9:16 pm

    Barry: Yeah, no James in da book. I think we thought about Young Love at some point, but we didn’t think about it too hard or for very long. I like him better in his later early 70s years, with Since I Met You Baby and It’s Just a Matter of Time, and Is It Wrong for Loving You. Those make use of his gifts better than the early teen dream stuff, I think, and the truth is that the more I listen to him the more I like him overall. But why him and why now, as you say, and if he gets in, then what very succesful country act doesn’t?

  4. David Cantwell Says:
    September 1st, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    Chris, write me off site (at the cantkill link on the home page). I want to talk with you about those 50s posts.

  5. Tater Says:
    September 22nd, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    Hmm, is exactly what I thought as well. BUT!! 23 #1 Hits. This is the same “Hall of Fame” that honored Little Jimmy Dickens 20 years prior to Carl Smith, 18 years prior to Webb and 13 years before Ray Price. Go figure!!

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