
Hi, folks. Sorry about the lack of Stagger Lee over the weekend -- I had a family daytrip to go on, and forgot to prepare a post ahead of time. Why? Well, I was working on this: It's October, and people all over the world will be listening to "I'll Put A Spell On You" in a few weeks. Last year, I put up a total of 19 versions of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic voodoo howl. I just reupped the zip, and you can find Volumes One and Two here. Now, here are ten more versions [...]
by jessica f. The following seven top-of-the-roster bands are playing at both Rothbury and Wakarusa festivals this summer: The Black Crowes , Gov't Mule , STS9 , Yonder Mountain String Band (personal favorite), Les Claypool , G Love & Special Sauce , and Shpongle . Rothbury general admission tickets cost about $250 while Wakarusa's are going for $119, half the price. What does Rothbury [Michigan, July 2-5] have that Wakarusa [...]

MUSIC NEWS - Good news for Deadheads and jam band fans --- After some late 2008 shows to support Barack Obama , this spring, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead will conduct their first tour in five years, since their " Wave That Flag " tour ! The band will take to the road starting on April 12, 2009 in Greensboro, N.C., and will play sixteen "evening with" shows in nineteen cities through May 10, ending in the group's hometown of, San Francisco. Tickets start going on sale January 13, 2009. The original Dead [...]
For the first time in this blog's short history, I missed a week. Then another. Now a third Monday has passed and readers are rightly wondering where I've disappeared to. Well I'm back, and will try to keep on top of my game from now on! However, as penance for having shirked my responsibility, I've made that's the theme for this week: failure, and by association, depression. As you might expect, the song themes are generally a little more serious than missing a few blog posts, but don't worry, we'll get more positive with next [...]

(Note for bookkeepers -- I started writing this post last night, but sadly fell asleep before the files finished uploading. Tuesday's regular one-song post will be up soon.) Screamin' Jay Hawkins wrote this song in 1956 (or so -- there is debate). In 2005 I compiled a CD, on which I whittled down my collection of about 35 versions of this song down to 27, enough to fit onto one disc. Then today I got it down to ten. And it was painful. I love this song, and there are more [...]

All Along the Watchtower was written and first recorded by Bob Dylan, for his album John Wesley Harding , which was released on December 27, 1967. It's been covered a load of times, most notably by Jimi Hendrix. It was Hendrix's only Top 40 hit in the US. Rolling Stone once wrote, " Using the line "And the wind began to howl" as a springboard, Hendrix constructed a tumultuous four-part solo that transformed Dylan's concise foreboding into an electric hurricane. Dylan acknowledged Hendrix's masterstroke: His subsequent versions [...]