Blog: Doctor Mooney's 115th Dream

Patients, meet the Moondoggies, the Pacific Northwest's remedy to your musical doldrums. With their 10-track sophomore album, Tidelands in the can – awaiting release on Sub Pop imprint Hardly Art on October 12 - the Emerald City foursome will hit the road with Laurel Canyon ragamuffins, Dawes, on a brief Fall tour through the Midwest and West Coast. Leadoff cut, "It's a Shame, It's a Pity" starts hushed, peaceful, strolling with a back porch acoustic groove. The song ignites with panoramic flare when the full band kicks in: striking three-part harmonies, pounding rhythm, sinking their roots [...]

Originally written, recorded and ushered in by little-known Music City Troubadour Ron Davies, later covered by UK rocker pups, Three Dog Night and the celebrated Thin White Duke, David Bowie –Davies' take on "It Ain't Easy" is a long neglected, one of a kind classic. Ron Davies' debut long player Silent Song Through The Land —recorded in 1970, after Davies was signed by A&M Records at age twenty—is made up of nine blue-ribbon cuts – each one original and full spirited. First single and lead-off track, "It Ain't Easy" is easily given highest rank amongst the [...]

A sinister guitar line lurks behind 71-year-old Mavis Staples' spirited husky contralto, as the soul chanteuse sings in harmony during the thunder-infected refrain: "Creep along Moses Moses creep along / Creep Along Moses I Thank God," For her latest release, Gospel's leading light, Mavis Staples has teamed up with Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy for her 13th solo album and Anti- records sophomore release, You Are Not Alone . Recorded at Wilco's studio The Loft, You Are Not Alone is an evenhanded glorious collection of traditional numbers and covers: Pops Staples, Randy Newman, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty, Reverend [...]

A minor hit for the rock 'n roll swashbucklers Johnny & the Pirates, resuscitated by UK punk trailblazers Dr. Feelgood. But neither could match the signature two-bit, freight train beat of Bo Diddley – Rock's mad scientist and founding father's take on "I Can Tell." Recorded on June 27, 1962, the "You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover" B-Side is musical hypnosis at its finest: Diddley dispatches rumbling vocals, coupled with veiled heartache and the backing deploys trancelike riptide-ridden rhythms. Focus on the inextinguishable blend of hypnotizing tremolo and bottom that seeks like a frayed-wired sidewinder. A [...]

With the help of the Akron hoodoo man, Dan Auerbach, the boys from the Alamo City have done it again. Hacienda has managed to serve up a seductive stockpile of South Texas Soul on their Sophomore full-length, Big Red and Barbacoa . After gigging with Dr. Dog, Alberta Cross, Heartless Bastards, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears; opening for Dan Auerbach on his Keep It Hid tour and serving as his backing band, Fast Five; the band salvaged two separate weekends to record the Alive Records, Big Red and Barbacoa at Auerbach's Akron Analog Studio [...]

Patients, today we have a ferocious pair of long lost knockout tracks from the double- dealing Chess-mates, pint-sized diva Sugar Pie Desanto and Her Majesty of the Blues, Etta James. Two muscular ditties that have shades of nasty, back-alley grit, Chicago blues fire and pistol-whipped funk. Of the three tag-team duets that cousins Sugar Pie and Etta cut together for Chess, the impromptu "In The Basement (Part 1 & 2)" seven-inch is the preferred single of the doctors and nursemaids here at the asylum. Released in 1966, side one Part One is a ripping supercharged soul feast of [...]

Long Beach, California is swiftly becoming a musical mecca – a rampant breeding ground for tomorrow's indie-darlings: Dawes, Avi Buffalo, Delta Spirit, The Growlers, Deep See Diver. Now patients, we know it's no small honor to be considered one of the best up-and-coming bands coming out of the LBC, but we think we have a legitimate candidate after listening to The Fling 's stellar maiden voyage, When The Madhouses Appear . Produced by The Fling and recorded by Matt Wignall, When The Madhouses Appear is simply a fine debut album - [...]

Covered by the leading lights of the blues world, Freddie King, Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, "The Sky is Crying," is a smoldering side. Originally cut by Elmore James—perhaps his top track— it was recorded in the Windy City and released in 1960 on Bobby Richards' New York City-based Fire label, Fire 1016. Written spur-of-the-moment, in a Chicago rainstorm and recorded that night, this hot-blooded track—credited to Elmo James—delivers on multiple fronts: rib-sticking wails, lacerating steel-string slide assaults and searing jolts of soul stirring backing. Recorded: 1959, Chicago Producer: Bobby Robinson Elmore [...]

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 12th studio album and first collection of tracks with The Heartbreakers since 2002's The Last DJ , is a departure from the Tom Petty that you thought you were acquainted with. Mojo is The Heartbreakers' heavy-handed salute to the blues – an album that is steeped in the hotfooted Southern blues romps that were recorded live in-studio with no overdubs. Keyboard guru Benmont Tench: "When we sit around and we don't have anything to learn or rehearse and we're just messing around, this is the kind of music we play." Petty cements [...]

Patients, the doctors and nursemaids here at the asylum know you are well-versed in Johnny Cash's classic Sun Records penitentiary ballad, "Folsom Prison Blues," but today we wanted to usher in Slim Harpo's hip shakin' treatment of the classic cut. Recorded in 1969, a year prior to The Man in Black's revival at Folsom Prison, Slim's version handles Cash's take on the big house with flawless command. You don't get the infectious boom-chick-a-boom from the Cash treatment, but this Bob Wilson-produced reworking delivers a dose of rousing stovepipe soul; a rave-up, complete with the Bayou state bluesman's [...]

Son of a country outlaw, branded with the namesake of a songwriting legend, New York City via Nashville singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle rambles in the same weater-beaten cowboy boots as his old man, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Now, the prodigal son readies his third Bloodshot Records long player, Harlem River Blues - the follow-up to last year's Midnight at the Movies . Earle's inspiration: "I drove over the Harlem River one time and it was just the most desolate-looking thing I'd ever seen… it's just the nastiest body of water you've ever [...]

Fifty-five years ago, armed with a cherry-colored ES-355, Saint Louis blues picker and former beautician, Chuck Berry aimed to conquer the world with his hip-shaking rock 'n roll and smooth licks. Tracks like "Johnny B. Good," "Maybelline," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Rock and Roll Music" became standards. His fortune changed in 1959, when, while gigging in El Paso, Berry transported Janice Escalanti, a juvenile Native American lass, across state lines to Missouri for work as a hat check girl at his nightspot, Club Bandstand. Berry was tried twice and later sentenced to three years in jail. While [...]

After trotting around the globe for 290 shows over the last two years, golden state four-piece Delta Spirit have managed to churn out their Sophomore long player, History From Below – a first-rate follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, Ode To Sunshine . Front man Matthew Vasquez explains, "It's been three years of straight touring off our last record so most of the songs were written in hotel rooms and tested in front of an audience. We spent six months of this last year making a record that sums up three years of growing up." [...]

CAUTION: ELECTRICITY MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH Trout Mask Replica . Ice Cream For Crow . Shiny Beast . All are untamable, twisted sonic blasts, but the album that wins our rock 'n roll stethoscopes over every single time is Captain Beefheart's Buddah Records debut long player, Safe As Milk (1967). Along with "Zig Zag Wanderer" and "Electricity," the track that we can't get enough of is the distilled brew of warped delta mayhem, "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" – a rousing lead-off track that capsizes Muddy Waters' [...]

Pokey Lafarge, a modern day balladeer in the truest sense, delivers his brand of deeply rooted dustbowl Appalachia-blues on his third offering--and Trade Root Music Group maiden voyage-- Riverboat Soul . Hailing from St. Louis, Mo, 27-year-old Mr. Lafarge and his dapper band of ragamuffins, the South City Three— Adam Hoskins, Joey Glynn and Ryan Koenig-- deliver a mighty fine collection of spirited takes that make the doctors and nursemaids feverishly hoot, holler, stomp our feet and clap our hands. Our favorite cut on Riverboat Soul comes in the form of "La La Blues"- a fistful of freewheeling ragtime, [...]

Pokey Lafarge, a modern day balladeer in the truest sense, delivers his brand of deeply rooted dustbowl Appalachia-blues on his third offering--and Trade Root Music Group maiden voyage-- Riverboat Soul . Hailing from St. Louis, Mo, 27-year-old Mr. Lafarge and his dapper band of ragamuffins, the South City Three— Adam Hoskins, Joey Glynn and Ryan Koenig-- deliver a mighty fine collection of spirited takes that make the doctors and nursemaids feverishly hoot, holler, stomp our feet and clap our hands. Our favorite cut on Riverboat Soul comes in the form of "La La Blues"- a fistful of freewheeling ragtime, [...]

Today we have an off-the-radar offering from Salinas California garage rockers, Louie and The Lovers—a Chicano four-piece fronted by Louie Ortega. Recorded in 1970 during one 18-hour session by Sir Douglass Quintet founder and Lonestar state legend, Doug Sahm, Rise is a treasure trove of top-notch ditties – one of great musical oversights by the audiophiles of the world. Why the release wasn't a smashing success is shrouded in mystery. Their debut long-player is filled to the brim with asylum approved tracks: "I Know You Know," "Rise," "Driver Go Slow," "Royal Oakie," but the cut the [...]

Patients, meet The Growlers, a barnstorming collective of sea-side tramps, hailing from the lowest registers of the Southern California coastline. Since 2006 they have self-released an eight EP collection called, Couples and opened for the likes of Devendra Barnhart and Dr. Dog. Their debut album, Are You In Or Out? , is a treasure chest of lusty ditties. This is a brand of white-hot nuggets that shakes the rock 'n roll family tree down to its foundation, rootlets and all. Next to "Acid Rain", our favorite cut of their debut LP is album opener "Something [...]

In the summer of 1972, Perry Henzell released upon the world the Jamaican gangster film, The Harder They Come - an underground classic that kick-started American audiences' devotion to reggae. With the release of the film came a knockout soundtrack that was filled to the gills with direct-from-the-island, quintessential rocksteady and future reggae icons: Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Scotty and The Maytalls. Nestled among a stockpile of classics is one of the most celebrated reggae hits, and a rock 'n roll stethoscope approved track, by The Slickers, "Johnny Too Bad." This Byron Lee produced cut is [...]

Patients, not since the late '60s has a band sounded as cosmically in tune as Aussie Quartet, Tame Impala. Frontman Kevin Parker and drummer Jay Watson met close to a decade ago and during their first-ever US jaunt in June they played the role of openers for MGMT. On their Modular Recordings debut long player InnerSpeaker , the Perth-based psych-rockers have managed to seize the disorienting brand of paisley-charged, madcapped dream pop with their well-executed penchant for psychedelia. First single, "Solitude Is Bliss" is a crisp REM-induced daydream that smokes with echo-laden hallucinatory acid-hued sonic booms. [...]