I'm off to a field trip with my mushroom identification class. I'll be back later, but I'll leave you with a swinging little musical interlude called Making Love after Hours, by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, from way back in 1967.
later, alligator.
I've posted this next one before...it's Dewey Balfa
I don't know exactly why it is, but I find fiddlesticks to be a really moving musical experience, like you're witnessing something from the distant past, something secret and special and exotic.
It's been a while since I posted any Basque music on this blog. It's a fantastic musical tradition. So, enjoy some Trikitixa...
I enjoy jigs and reels quite a bit, but I haven't learned to play very many of them. I've decided to take on the project of learning a bunch of them for both button and piano accordion. I'm looking forward to learning the tunes, but also, this exercise will sharpen up my playing because some of them are very fast.
Jigs and reels are called soft-shoe dances, but I don't know much about dancing, so don't ask me about that. Reels have a 4/4. Your basic jig is in 6/8 time, and slip jigs are in 9/8 time. I'll worry about slip jigs and also hornpipes later.
I've started with an Irish jig called Come Haste to the Wedding.
I guess the moral of this story is to beware the pretty colleen, eh?
This one picks it up a bit....The Dropkick Murphy's
A couple years ago, we met up with Candy and Stagg in San Antonio Texas for the International Accordion Festival. It seemed there was an international conspiracy afoot keeping us away. Our plane broke and was canceled, so they rerouted us through Dallas. Then in San Antonio, we managed to get lost (in the car and then again on foot). When we finally made it to the opening night concert, it was Santiago Jimenez Jr. and his Conjunto playing on stage. It was great to see this fabulous accordion player in person! I had been listening to Conjunto/Norteno/Tex-Mex music for some time, but this was the first chance I had to hear one of the Conjunto greats play live.
Here he is with Martin Krousin
Polka Time
Here's Sunny and the Sunliners...
Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs
? and the Mysterians
The Corrido of Esteban Steve Jordan.
This excellent piece includes some rare interview bits with accordion giant Steve Jordan.
Here's a taste of Mr. Jordan live, from Youtube:
I've been listening to Levon Helm's latest recording, Electric Dirt, in the car lately. I just let it play over and over and over and I never seem to tire of it. This is the followup to Mr. Helm's so-called "comeback album", Dirt Farmer, a fantastic, rootsy, passionate collection of music. So this album is called Electric Dirt, and the title indicates that this collection of tunes is more firmly rooted in blues and rock 'n roll than the last group of songs. It occurred to me that it was also a nod to the late great Muddy Waters, and his 1968 album Electric Mud, which mixed up traditional blues and psychodelia.
Electric Dirt features a great selection of songs, with crisp, relaxed production by Larry Campbell. I really enjoy the interplay between Helm's singing and the backup singers. This record may be Electric Dirt but it still features plenty of fiddle and mandolin, and yes, accordion.
Levon Helm, once the drummer for Ronnie Hawkins' band The Hawks, which later became The Band, has re-emerged in his later career as a musical force to be reckoned with. I'd love to see his band play a live show!
...when nothing but a Tex-Mex polka will do?
As the Texas Tornados say, Squeeze it Flacito.
Nancy Griffith with Don Edwards' beautiful cowboy yodel
Doesn't that make you want to be a cowboy when you grow up?
Of course, when you're too old to wrangle and ride on the swing, there's nothing left but to be the camp cook on the Goodnight Loving Trail. This next song was written by the late U. Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest.
Ok...one more cowboy tune. Here's David Bromberg and the Cowpunchers playing the great Ian Tyson tune, Summer Wages. Nice, very nice.
Right this minute, I'm listening to Written in Chalk, by Buddy and Julie Miller on my computer. Half an hour ago, it was Steve Earle's tribute to Townes van Zandt, Townes. How about you? What are you listening to these days?
...not even all that often, but every now and again I get a hankerin to hear Stompin Tom Connors sing "they ate the deli pickle and forgot about the nickel and everybody's pickled on a Sudbury Saturday Night". I hope my friends from up Sudbury way will forgive me.
I grew up thinking all potatoes in the whole wide world were grown in Prince Edward Island delivered by the one and only Bud the Spud. Didn't you?
Eat your heart out Paul Bunyon. Big Joe Mufferaw paddled up the Ottawa all the way to Mattawa in just one day.
Remember you can't do gumboot cloggin in a disco.
This song makes my back hurt...
Ok Ok....let me post one more and I promise that'll be it. What will it be? Luke's Guitar? Moon Man Newfie? Nope. It's The Ketchup Song...
Apparently, Bob Dylan is recording a Christmas Album.
I hope he does Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer!
Willy DeVille died last night of pancreatic cancer, age 59. I think he was an inspired performer. I only had a chance to see one of his shows live, and that was back in 1978 at Massey Hall in Toronto, on a bill with Nick Lowe and Rockpile and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. DeVille's band back then was Mink DeVille and they were burning hot. I was in high school at the time and rock and roll was being refreshed and renewed on many fronts. I remember the show well, both because all three bands were terrific, but also because the day before I was hit in the face with a baseball, leaving me swollen and sore.
