Apocryphally, If I Needed You came to Townes Van Zandt wholesale, in a dream, wherein he envisioned himself a famous folksinger, and the song as his biggest hit. When he awoke, he wrote the song down, changing but one line in transcription, and the rest, as they say, is history. Of course, Townes did indeed become famous, though partially posthumously, and surely not on the same scale as he envisioned in his nocturnal emissions. But as I've noted several times in these virtual pages, I discovered the work of [...]
It's coming on 2012, and all around us, bloggers tout their 2011 taste, jostling to be the best and first match for your own preferences, inviting debate over position in the ranks. And so, as we do every year as the calendar comes to a close, we struggle with the conceit of The Year In Review, surveying a year's worth of posts, writing a never-ending series of half-hearted drafts, flinching every time we approach the task, yet feeling guilt every time we put it down. My reluctance to pass judgement isn't a cop-out. [...]
Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: Being that it is December, I'm going to [...]
Our tendency towards revisiting posts gone by through the lens of new releases and projects is especially apropos this weekend, given the continued recovery efforts in our little torndao-ravaged town. While the rest of us sift through the rubble, let's sift through the archives, taking account of some new and noteworthy works from artists featured previously here on Cover Lay Down. We first featured young started-out-bluegrass band the Farewell Drifters on the release of the hook-heavy Yellow Tag Mondays , their 2010 release; back then, they [...]
Right outta the woods, The Pines' live rendition of What Good Am I? brings the peculiar comfort of Dylan's words 'n' vocals. John Gorka coaxes every melodic nuance from Just Like A Woman . Meg Hutchinson's gorgeous arrangement of Born In Time improves on the original. Mama, Let Me Lay It On You (Baby, Let Me Follow You Down) transmitter Hot Tuna gives everything the Hot Tuna treatment. It's Dylan in a parallel universe: The artfully placed tracks of A Nod to Bob 2 don't impersonate the [...]
A Tree Falls Productions , our little house concert series here in rural Massachusetts, has grown since we first presented Danny Schmidt in our living room, and so has its reputation: both of the headline performers for our upcoming Spring/Summer season concerts came to us, making booking as easy as checking the calendar and saying "yes, please!" Our newest performing space, a restored hundred year old carriage house just up the road, has ample room for 50+, and for our increasingly infamous potluck meals, and we're eager to fill the house, the better to support [...]
Sorry for the lack of posting this pas week. Me and my wife's first anniversary was Thursday so we went out of town for a few days, and I just got too busy to post from the road. I didn't get much of a chance to listen to new music or old music from my collection, so this weeks feature will be very small. I'm going to break my own rule to only include one song per artist because of this, and hopefully this next week I'll have more time to focus on music and posting here. [...]
Since I missed last weeks picks of the week feature due to no internet access, I will be combining it with this weeks. Enjoy! Ben Harper- Another Lonely Day XX- Basic Space Pieta Brown-Calling All Angels Michelle Branch-Crazy Ride Debi Nova-Drummer Boy (Unplugged) Meg Hutchinson-Gatekeeper Ben Kweller- God Only Knows Bombay Bicycle [...]
We've always felt a little guilty about Meg Hutchinson 's music. We probably should have been tugging on the sleeve of everyone we knew and telling them about what an incredible find each of her albums have been. But, with an artist like this, someone whose effortlessly beautiful songs can speak to the listener on a profoundly personal level, it's also tempting to just keep it to yourself. We were reminded of that fact today as we listened to Hutchinson's new album The Living Side , due February 9 via Red House, tempted to just close the door, [...]
Scratchy Weary voiced singer/songwriter Meg Hutchinson drags her words out lusciously and bumpily. Not that she's not happily melodic, but like Chris Pureka or Sarah Bettens there's a sharp intersection where the story of the song grabs you as well as the sound of the song (I hope that makes some small bit of sense. It is what I meant to say. If it's confusing, go listen to "Burning Bridges" (esp. the part about the glasses) or "Come Over Here" to see what I mean). She's playing tonight if you happen to be in [...]
Last year, I procrastinated heavily. I think there were a lot of good records that came out the last couple of years, but I started to think that for every record that came out, there was an equal number of these "best-of" lists being bandied about. At first I thought, "Wow, it's finally happened. Everyone's a music critic." Then, with this pervasive thought entrenched in my gourd, I started reading these other lists before making my own. I suddenly felt small. So deadlines for the "best of 20073 rolled around, and I [...]
Minnesota 150, our musical celebration of the state's 150th birthday, continues with with local music from Meg Hutchinson with the song "Ready" from the 25 year anniversary compilation from Red House Records. Originally from MPR: The Current Song of the Day on May 7, 2008, 10:00pm
The seaport city of Boston, rich in musical tradition and heritage, has a legacy of turning out notable songwriters and musicians dating back generations. If you're a follower of that long-standing tradition (or you happen to be one of the lucky ones who live there and get to experience it on a regular basis), you might have occasioned to stumble into places like Club Passim or The Middle East without expectation only to stumble back out deeply impressed with what you've just seen. This legacy has given root to Meg Hutchinson , a songwriter whose extraordinary [...]
Cover Lay Down
IckMusic
My Old Kentucky Blog
Music For Humans
Direct Current
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Loudersoft
Raised on Indie
Music Singles Chart #109
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
REMIX SUNDAYS- May 27th, 2012
