I'm not sure who first wrote or recorded the song "Bottle (Step) It Up and Go." The details of the song's origins seem to have been lost to time. For many decades the standard practice of record producers was to claim the copyright credit for artist's works. This makes tracking a popular song such as "Bottle (Step) It Up and Go" difficult. Perhaps one of the riders on the Bus can shed some light on the song's origin. The song probably originated from the Yazoo delta region, but it traveled well across political boundaries as well as musical [...]
Leadbelly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night? Robert Johnson - Love in Vain I'm just in that kind of mood. Researching fascism in Ireland for an essay is kinda depressing. But also interesting. Things You Didn't Know About Irish Fascism: Of all the foreign contingents who made their way to Spain to fight against the Republic, the Irish one was the largest. Thankfully, they didn't do much except get drunk and throw up after eating burro, so after their first engagement, which consisted [...]
[a warm thankyou to ray caesar for taking the time to share how music influences his creative process and for contributing to musicisart. living in toronto, canada, ray creates artwork from past experiences of living through life's different patterns and working eighteen years at toronto's hospital for sick children. by pushing boundries of incorporating what he has seen and emotionally felt into his very own catharsis, ray portrays such delicate digital details of gentle imagery. its not difficult at all to realize that these whimsical masterpieces come directly from his soul.] [...]
This last week I was working on poetry with my students and one day we focused on writing a blues poem (poems that follow the traditional pattern of early blues music). To help them understand blues as a genre, we talked about how blues music developed into rhythm and blues which eventually influenced both hip-hop and early rock and roll. As inspiration, I was playing some blues music in the background for the class and Leadbelly 's version of New Orleans (The Rising Sun Blues) came on. This got me to thinking about rock [...]
Audiversity's weekly column on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 37. Except, ah, yeah: There are definitely only two of us. MA: (#37 of a random playlist generated from my ever-changing database of 12,500+ songs) Brood – ing [broo-ding] –adjective 1. To hover envelopingly; loom. 2. a. To be deep in thought; meditate. b. To focus the attention on a subject persistently and moodily; worry. [...]
Today marks a very solemn day here at Swan Fungus. The penultimate episode of The Best Podcast You Have: Circulations Amethyst. On this week's installment, there was a guest musician, some friend of Jack's no one has ever met before. He sings in a foreign language and Jack [incorrectly] translates it. In the middle, there are snippets from a hilarious round-table discussion we had Friday night. Most of it was too vulgar to reproduce for public consumption, but there are some great one-liners, and a lot of instances in which I crack myself up mid-sentence. I'm that funny. Listen to [...]
Awhile back I speculated that trains were perhaps the single most common subject of American folksong. The more I wander through my record collection, the more convinced I become. The railroad played a major part in my youth, although I never realized it until I moved out on my own. I grew up along the tracks of the B&O. As a young boy I walked the path along the tracks to visit friends. We would often meet up on the tracks to get to our favorite fishing or swimming holes on the river. In high school I [...]
* Leadbelly : Miss Liza Jane (2.0 mb) | Dog Latin Song (1.0 mb) | John Henry (4.5 mb) | Salty Dog (3.0 mb) | Irene (2.5 mb) From Leadbelly's Last Sessions : Smithsonian Folkways Recordings : SFW40068 Born in 1888, Huddie Ledbetter (aka Leadbelly or Lead Belly) spent his life amassing an amazing collection of folk songs and blues (reportedly over 500 songs). He also spent a large [...]
This week EAR FARM's Three for Free has got some of the best old school blues you'll ever hear. These songs have long since been in the public domain* and, though you might not recognize the musicians, I bet you know one or two of the songs pretty well... Click on the artist name to go to the wiki-site about them, click on the song name to listen to the song. Listen: Kansas Joe McCoy - "When The Levee Breaks" Listen: Cecil Gant - "I [...]
At one point or another I devoted an immense amount of attention, in some form or another, to each of these songs. I can't rightly tell you if I was obsessed with the thirteenth song I heard in March and I am not able to say if the tenth song is better than the [...]
I hope to not overdo it. I love old blues and country recordings and at sometimes I think I could devote this whole blog to that alone. Today we present two versions of "Amazing Grace" from yesteryear. The first is from the Rev. J.M. Gates. Gates was a blues singer as well as a minister in the late 1920s and early '30s. He was one of the most-recorded black artists of the time. He recorded over 200 songs, most of which have been issued on CD in the past 10 years. His [...]
I will talk until my throat is sore. I will pull away layers until I am completely translucent. I will shiver the whole night through. Download: Leadbelly - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?Buy the Album: Leadbelly - Absolutely the Best
TEMPTATION Tom Waits Frank's Wild Years Island : 1987 [Buy It] CROSS BONES STYLE Cat Power Moon Pix Matador : 1998 [Buy It] (Friends, I'm desperate to hear Chan Marshall's cover of "Come on in my kitchen." Anyone who has it, share the joy and make my day: moistworks@gmail.com .) It's Halloween time, so I've unearthed my eeriest music. Hark, is that the howling of the damned? [...]
Good Night Irene From Ry Cooder and Flaco Jimenez with a taste of San Antonio: Goodnight Irene mp3 From Dr John with a little lecture on music history and Lousiana politics : Goodnight Irene mp3 I wish I still had a recording of Uncle Walt's band singing Irene I was working on my front door yesterday, going in and out of the screendoor. I noticed a large paint chip on the screen that later revealed itself [...]
For me, this week brings a return to teaching full-time, which is kind of a drag, but the fact that Old Crow Medicine Show's Big Iron World is being released tomorrow will do a lot to make up for having to kiss my summer goodbye. You can actually purchase Big Iron World right now via itunes, or you can even stream the entire album for free over at CMT. Just click here . I thought I'd do a post today previewing two of the songs that they've included on the CD.. [...]
Play it: Moses Asch's Hands (Smithsonian Folkways Records) There's been a recent wave of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings finding their way into the Rhapsody library this week. One thing they have in common is Moses "Moe" Asch , founder of Folkway Records and one of the most important non-musicians in American popular music. Asch was the son of leftist intellectual and Yiddish novelist Sholem Asch , who was also an acquaintance of Albert Einstein . Both [...]
I appear to have lost all of the mp3's posted on SaveFile, including the Triffids tracks posted (insert swear words here), so it's back to YouSendIt and a shorter mp3 availability. Them's the breaks in the world of free file sharing services. I have also decided to start a new variation on an old method, posting multiple versions of the same song, the original and several cover versions, with the music and very few words. I'm starting with a classic from Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly [...]
6 Cardinal Colors: Yellow Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington, Yellow Days. Frank Sinatra, The Moon Was Yellow. Zhang Ruei, Song of the Yellow River. Oregon, Yellow Bell. Syd Barrett, Golden Hair. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Yellow Coat. The Ventures, Yellow Jacket. Yo La Tengo, Yellow Sarong. Peggy Lee, Golden Earrings. Cab Calloway, Yaller. Leadbelly, Yellow Gal. Gene Autry, The Yellow Rose of
Leadbelly has always been one of my favorite blues men. My affection for him stems from the fact that he played and sang his music in my home town of Shreveport, Louisiana, down on Fannin Street back in the twenties and thirties. I was so excited to learn that he probably lived and walked around in the Ledbetter Heights section of Shreveport. As you have probably noticed if you frequent this blog or if you look around a bit I am attracted to the prewar blues men. Later I [...]
Old Blue Bus
the torture garden
music is art
Mainstream Isnt So Bad...Is It
Audiversity
Swan Fungus
the of mirror eye
EAR FARM
Culture Bully
How We Sing
so totally, the selector » recent
Moistworks
GHM on Old Hickory Lake
muse: nashville
thus spake drake
Something Old, Something New
Locust St.
SqueezeMyLemon
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
How High Can You Hear? Test Your Hearing Now!
Daft Punk graba con Giorgio Moroder
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
