What's in your ears as the holiday fare fades? Here at Cover Lay Down, we're still catching up on 2012 after finding some prize otherwise-unknowns on the top albums lists of several trusted folkblogs, plus a hint of missed opportunities and a spate of tracks that - with one brand-new exception from Boston-based newgrass quintet The Deadly Gentlemen - turn out to have been recorded before the calendrical turn. We're grateful of the opportunity to clear the air before moving forward. So before we start in earnest with the next big and promising things to [...]
Soulful album of singer-songwriter folk, country and rock “Singer-songwriter” usually labels someone who sings their own songs, but in Jimmy LaFave’s case, it describes someone who’s as talented at originating material as he is in lending his voice to others’ songs. His first studio album in five years balances eight new songs with five covers, three of the latter selected from the catalog of Bob Dylan. Perhaps the most surprising reinterpretation is his resurrection of John Waite’s “ Missing You ” from its 1980s chart-topping power-ballad origin. As a writer of emotionally-laden songs, LaFave [...]
Nik Kershaw: “Eight” If you only know Nik Kershaw for “Wouldn't It Be Good,” or as the guy who tripped onstage at Live Aid, then you've missed out on some great albums full of pop perfection. On his eighth studio CD, oddly enough titled “Eight,” we find the anglophile auteur in love and making some of the best crafted love songs since The Beatles (or at least Squeeze.) Rick Springfield: “Songs For The End Of The World” The eighties [...]
Jimmy LaFave releases his first new studio album in five years, Depending on the Distance , today. Purchase: iTunes | Amazon "...a beautifully recorded paean to love lost and found, the contemplative quest for personal freedom and the youthful abandon of days long gone." - Mario Tarradell ( Dallas Morning News ) "The LaFave originals mainly stay true to his style, bluesy ballads [...]
Woody Guthrie would have been 100 today, and the folkways are imploding a bit as they celebrate the man who practically defines 21st century folk. But we've gone there already: a few weeks ago, in announcing the release of Little Seed, Elizabeth Mitchell's wonderful new tribute to his children's songs; in a comprehensive feature on the Guthrie family legacy back in 2010; in a score of other posts, as the modern inheritors of the singer-songwriter mantle have interpreted the songs of Woody Guthrie over and over again. Indeed, the Guthrie songbook is [...]
A repeat and a great one! Download: jimmy-lafave-buckets-of-rain.m p3
The newest issue of Oklahoma Today is officially on newsstands today. This issue is a special Oklahoma country music collector's edition, with six different covers available. "With our state’s incredible history and talent in every conceivable facet of country music, even we are a little surprised it took us fifty-five years to produce this issue. It includes a state-of-the-genre feature written by Holly Bailey, senior political reporter for Yahoo! News; a discography by Ryan LaCroix; and a history piece on Roger Miller by Randy Krehbiel. Thanks [...]
Inspired by Oklahoma Today 's September issue focusing solely on country music, we'll be counting down the Top 100 Oklahoma Country Songs over the next several weeks. Every weekday, we will unveil another five songs that helped shape the way Oklahoma country music is heard by the outside world. 80. Wanda Jackson - "My Big Iron Skillet" (1969) Purchase: iTunes After becoming the Queen of [...]
This is from his 1997 album Road Novel .
In April, a couple dozen musicians came together for a celebration of red dirt music in Stillwater, under the title of Red Bull Gypsy Café . The event name pays homage to the site at The Farm where jam sessions sprung up over the years. Musicians who played the event include Cody Canada, Stoney LaRue, Mike McClure, Steve Rice, Randy Crouch, Tom Skinner, Red Dirt Rangers, Greg Jacobs, Don Morris, John Parker Millsap, Bill Erickson, Monica Taylor, Bob Wiles, Kevin & Dustin Welch, Larry Spears, Susan Herndon, Jimmy LaFave, Travis [...]
As you can see above - yes, that's me with my hands to the sky, dancing sidestage in full-on last-day-of-the-festival mode - this year's annual excursion into the folkfields was a grand success. So good, in fact, that I'm writing this on the porch, reluctant to come inside lest the residual joy of the previous 11 days leech off in the presence of real toilets and showers, refrigerated food, and electric lighting. But in the end, it was also a study in contrast, with Grey Fox bigger than ever, and [...]
Festival season is upon us once again, and though upcoming obligations will keep me from some of my regular haunts this year, it would take an honest-to-goodness apocalypse to keep me from Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, our absolute favorite summerfest, which takes place July 23-25 in the above-pictured hills of Hillsdale, NY , just over the Massachusetts border. And you can join us too, thanks to the good graces of long-time Festival artistic director Anne Saunders, who has provided us with a pair of all-expenses-paid camping passes to pass along to [...]
I'm a bit under the weather, and so is the sky, dropping branches and rain on the newly-cleared lawn and wreaking havoc on our 'net connection. I've got some great new music to share, and it's burning me up not to be able to bring it out this evening...but under the circumstances, I'm thinking something a little less strenuous might be more apropos. Hope no one minds a repost, from the aftermath of a similar storm two summers ago, with a promise of something more substantive to follow later in the week... [...]
This is the title song from his 2005 album. It was the first of his I ever heard. I bought more albums right away. MP3 File yousendit
This is from Blue Nightfall, his 2005 album, and the very first one of his I ever bought. I then had to play catch up because I wanted them all! MP3 File
MUSIC NEWS - Surprisingly, it's been five years since Texas-based, New England-raised Slaid Cleaves released an album of original material. I know, he's not known as 'prolific', but still, five years is too long for MNN !. And now, Slaid has delivered an album full of uncommonly fine-tuned songs built to stand the test of time. The new music on Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away , (out via Music Road Records - order your copy here ) releases April 21, 2009 and to promote, [...]
I had planned to post a huge survey of new and upcoming tribute albums from the folkworld here in this space today, but after a week of bedside Zen , Sunday's late-night sociopolitical rant , and a full-bore reentry into teaching and town business meetings, exhaustion seems to have caught up with me. I'll be working on that tribute post throughout the week, and hope to have it up on Sunday at the latest. But in the interest of deadlines, and because the ol' brain is really not up to much [...]
This is from his Trail album. I always think only of Joan Baez or Peter, Paul and Mary singing this, but I've played one or both before. As I hate to repeat, I figured I might just offer another version. MP3 File
Written last night in a rainstorm's aftermath. Posted this morning in bright dappled sunlight. They say April showers bring May flowers, but I'm not so sure. This evening's thunderstorm was a big one, and in our end-of-the-wire rural existence, even when the power stays on, thunder knocks our 'net connectivity for a loop. Meanwhile, now that the trees have finally filled in, our newly-terraformed backyard doesn't seem to be getting more than a few hours of sun [...]
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