The best damn fiddle player in the world is only the 13th best artist according to your votes. Today's batch of artists… 11. Loretta Lynn 12. Buck Owens 13. Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys 14. The Louvin Brothers 15. Dolly Parton Today's batch of songs… This one really captures Loretta's feisty attitude: Loretta Lynn – Fist City (mp3) ( buy album ) And this one really captures [...]
16. Carter Family 17. Steve Earle 18. Lucinda Williams 19. Dwight Yoakam 20. Gillian Welch Arguably, there's only one strictly "country" artist in today's batch, but I like to give the genre a broad definition (and I like all five of these artists), so no complaining. Here's one song from each: The Carter Family – Blackjack David (mp3) ( buy album ) Steve Earle – Copperhead Road (Live Acoustic) (mp3) ( buy album [...]
Lefty comes limping in at 27… (Time for a boost on STWOF!) 21. Doug Sahm 22. Jimmie Rodgers 23. Old Crow Medicine Show 24. Lyle Lovett 25. Iris Dement 26. Tom T. Hall 27. Lefty Frizzell 28. Ralph Stanley/Stanley Brothers 29. Roger Miller 30. Marty Robbins Keeping up with the Texas theme, here's one from your No. 24, Lyle Lovett. The guy [...]
The Father of Bluegrass just barely made it into the Top 40... 40. Bill Monroe 39. Jason & The Scorchers 38. Ray Charles 37. The Flatlanders 36. John Hartford 35. Randy Travis 34. Jerry Jeff Walker 33. Kris Kristofferson 32. Roseanne Cash 31. Tammy Wynette If you couldn't tell by the last two featured songs, I'm in a Texas mood this week. [...]
Uncle Tupelo--the first "official" alt-country band--took 45th place. Add Son Volt's votes and Jay Farrar's combined bands would be 26th. 50. The Jayhawks 49. Doc Watson 48. Guy Clark 47. Hank Thompson 46. Flatt and Scruggs 45. Uncle Tupelo 44. Hank Williams Jr. 43. Charlie Rich 42. Billy Joe Shaver 41. Don Williams The feature song from this batch comes from Billy Joe Shaver, [...]
Here's your No. 51 most favorite, Mr. Gene Clark The results are in! Thank you for your votes. I'll be revealing the final totals in groups of ten, starting with Numbers 60 through 51. Here's the first batch. 60. George Strait 59. The Dixie Chicks 58. Webb Pierce 57. Merle Travis 56. Robbie Fulks 55. Kitty Wells 54. Alison Krauss 53. Son Volt 52. Terry Allen [...]
Billie Holiday was one of the most talented and important singers ever. Her magic was in the relatively subtle way she interpreted her material. She expressed herself in a genuine way without showing off. If you are interested in learning more about Holiday's music, but don't know where to start, here's a short run down, organized by the three main labels for which she recorded. Columbia During the first phase of Billie's career, available on Columbia records, she typically served as a vocalist fronting fairly large--and quite [...]
With just a few weeks left in the voting, Johnny has a comfortable--but Hank has more than twice as many first place votes. A few commenters noted the absence of women from the top 10 after the first update. The ladies are doing a little better now with Patsy and Emmylou sneaking into the top 10 and Loretta at No. 11. Now for the bad news. Despite all of my efforts here, Tom T. Hall and John Hartford have dropped out of the Top 20. Sigh. 1. Johnny Cash 2. [...]
This post about the Los Angeles post-punk scene of the early 1980's comes from my poker buddy Dave (a.k.a. "davesap"). Dave was the first person ever to post a comment on STWOF . His comment inspired me to ask him to put together this guest post--and here it is! Take it away Dave... Dave here. After a business trip to Seattle, I had a few hours to kill and decided to rent a bicycle next to the Green Lake pathway. Unfortunately, it was raining (in [...]
After a week of voting, here are the current standings in the STWOF All-Time Favorite Country Artists poll: 1. Johnny Cash 2. Hank Williams 3. George Jones 4. Merle Haggard 5. Willie Nelson 6. Townes Van Zandt 7. Buck Owens 8. Waylon Jennings 9. Gram Parsons 10. The Louvin Brothers 11. Patsy Cline 12. Emmylou Harris 13. Bob Wills 14. John Hartford 15. Tom T. Hall 16. Dwight Yoakam 17. Iris Dement 18. Steve Earle 19. Marty Robbins 20. Roger Miller Roger Miller – King Of The Road (mp3) ( buy album ) [...]
The Rock'n'Bowl Outside Detroit's Majestic Theatre I'm taking a temporary break from my blogging "hiatus" to tell you all about a fun show by X and The Detroit Cobras that I was lucky enough to attend this past Thursday. The members of the band X are a bit old for a "punk" band, but they still sound great together. They play a very tight and energetic set, dominated by Billy Zoom's crunchy Les Paul. John Doe and Exene were fine voice, though Exene's mic was a little bit too low [...]
I need to take a break. It's time to catch up on my beauty sleep, advance my sputtering career, and actually listen to some music for a change. (Blogging is more about research, typing, uploading files, and re-sizing images than actually listening to music.) I will be back in a month or so. Until then I'll still be blogging over at Star Maker Machine and occasionally updating the sidebar here. And while I'm gone, you can check here for some great stuff on other blogs. [...]
I'm taking a break from Hank Cover Friday this week. So how about a Springsteen cover instead? This out-of-print gem comes from the Austin, Texas-based jangle-rock band Zeitgeist . They later changed their name to The Reivers for legal reasons (bummer). I've always liked this song and this version, so without further ado, please dig Zeitgeist, circa 1986: Zeitgeist/The Reivers – Atlantic City (mp3) ( buy album ) As a bonus, here's another nice cover from Zeitgeist's first album: Zeitgeist/The Reivers - Blue [...]
If you like what I'm doing here at Setting The Woods On Fire then you'll love the brand-new music blog called The Adios Lounge . Author Lance Davis (an insightful commenter here at STWOF) has only been at it for a couple of weeks, but you can tell already that he's onto something really good. The proof is in today's brilliant post about country music performed by black artists . It's very well-written and interesting stuff! Check it out. Oh yeah, here's an mp3 for your listening enjoyment: [...]
This old man's ears are still ringing from last night's Drive-By Truckers show at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac. The opening act were southern-rockers The Dexateens . Both bands hail from the great State of Alabama. (For those keeping score, the evening featured ten players, six beards, two drummers, and 44 loudly amplified guitar strings). If you like loud and fun rock shows with a good dose of intelligence and twang, be sure to check out the DBT's current world tour . The crowd at last night's show (which appeared to consist primarily of [...]
You all know the song Baba O'Riley. In case you need a refresher, check out this post over at Star Maker Machine . Much like that guy over at SMM, The Who were the first musical group that really grabbed me by the shirt collar and said "music is important!" (Hank was the artist who put the twang into the mix for me, but that's another story.) So, as a little tribute to Pete and The Who, here is a great demo of a song called Teenage Wasteland. It's pretty much [...]
The point of this series is to identify great jazz tracks that are most likely appeal to music fans who are new to the genre. My path to jazz (which I suspect is fairly common) was from rock to blues to jazz. As I started to tire of the repetition of straight blues, I gradually ventured into jazz with blues elements. The familiarity of the blues eased the transition. And it just sounds good! The other tracks featured in this series ( Cristo Redentor and The Sidewinder ) also have blues elements, [...]
On a recent work trip to Ann Arbor the other day I snuck off to a few record stores and picked up these great L.P.s. George Jones - I'll Share My World With You (Purchased at Encore Records for $10). This one, on the Musicor label, was my favorite pick of the day. Lot's of great (and humorous) tunes like these: George Jones – I Don't Have Sense Enough (To Come Out Of The Pain) (mp3) George Jones [...]
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill He sounds too blue to fly The midnight train is whinin' low I'm so lonesome I could cry I've never seen a night so long When time goes crawlin' by The moon just went behind a cloud To hide its face and cry Did you ever see a robin weep When leaves begin to die That means he's lost the will to live I'm so lonesome I could cry [...]
I can't wait to see their faces when I get the nerve to say... Johnny Paycheck - Take This Job And Shove It (mp3) ( buy album ) [Thank you for subscribing! Please be sure to check STWOF directly for content in the sidebar area not appearing in the feeds.]
Setting The Woods On Fire
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
