As a defining event at the heart of the Western world's most dominant religion, the Christmas story is perhaps the most sung-about narrative in history. But it's not just its religious importance which makes Christ's birth so present in the air and the airwaves. The prophecy foretold; the kings, the star, the road; Bethlehem and the manger; Mary and Joseph - as a text, the multifaceted story breaks down into a dozen moments, stretching far enough for a myriad of narrative approaches, from a multiplicity of perspectives. And whether we grow [...]
Though the basic tenets of the movement include finding truth in a diversity of sources, thanks to the large number of post-Christian seekers in their membership, Unitarian Universalist congregations can be a bit oversensitive about "the Jesus thing". This makes seasonal celebration a bit tense. For example, in our own UU Society, though no one balked at last weekend's celebration of Hanukkah, and though we expect solid support for similar services on both Kwanza and Solstice in the coming weeks, past practice suggests we'd do well to avoid mention of the trinity, angels, miracles and the [...]
It's surely more understatement than hyperbole to suggest that Nick Drake was a man before his time. The Cambridge dropout who found Dylan and dope more engaging than his studies certainly impressed the members of Fairport Convention, who would go on to support his 1969 debut Five Leaves Left in the studio, but he only confused British audiences, who found the chronically depressed insomniac anxious and disengaged, and his ecologically-grounded poetics and organic chorus-less songs completely anathema to the world of sea shanties and traditional brit-folk with which they were familiar. [...]
It's the first night of Hanukkah, and though the candles have long since burned down, as in past years, my holiday playlist didn't even last as long as the light it was designed to accompany. This year was closer than ever, though, giving me hope that one day soon we'll have more than a single set to offer over these eight nights. In the meantime, here's a rehashed set: our 2008 post rewritten, some older tunes from years past, and a pair of new delights from the mailbox. May [...]
Every year, I find my struggle to stave off Christmas Creep stymied by the drive to provide the meaningful and new before early-season eagerness can be replaced by weary resignation. Oh, sure, I wish it were otherwise - after all, December has so much more to offer, from Hanukkah to the very real possibility of an early snow day. But being the last blogger on the block to cover Christmas risks hitting folks when their patience for the songs of the season has already been exhausted. And dropping the best of [...]
We're long overdue for a comprehensive look at the Guthrie legacy here on these pages. And with Arlo's infamous long-form Thanksgiving narrative Alice's Restaurant Massacree riding the airwaves this weekend in anticipation of next week's inevitable all-Christmas-all-day switch-over, it seems there's no time like the present. Thinking more deeply, though, Woody's songbook also bears out well as a soundtrack for giving thanks. So many of his narratives point to the dustbowl world, with its depression-era desperation for that which we take for granted today, from freedoms to support structures, [...]
I'm full of grace and gratefulness as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches this year, not especially because I've just this evening returned from the final performance of an especially intense and intensive two-week production run of Willy Wonka at our local community theater. The cast was wonderful, and working with my entire family a treat; the rush that comes with stagecraft may be fading already, but the love I feel right now for an awful lot of people is keeping me up late, burning the near-midnight oil to make our Sunday night deadline. It's funny to [...]
Two weeks ago, I stayed overnight in the home of Bob Weiser , an old folkfest friend, community organizer, and long-time community radio mainstay with regular shows in two Massachusetts communities. As both a music publisher / distributer of sorts and an old radiohand myself - see below for more on that - it was inevitable that the conversation turn to radio, and we stayed up late chatting about the changes which digitalization has brought to both radio signal distribution and playlist management, not to mention the potential transformation of form, function, and fandom which the streamable [...]
We're team players here at Cover Lay Down, and though it's been a bear of a month on the home front, it's been an especially good time to find great coverfolk "out there" in the bloggiverse. So today, we recognize our peers - enjoy the linkage, and don't forget to bookmark the blogs you discover along the way! Over at Cover Me , where a host of new contributors have cranked up the incidence of posting, Greg shares two new tracks from 20 year old singer-songwriter [...]
It's pretty quiet here, just after noon on a rare sickday at home. The kids are at school, as they should be; the wife is off with a friend, doing some last minute shopping for Friday's opening night. One of the cats - I can never tell them apart - curls up next to me on the couch; the dog rests on the chair opposite, her eyes closed, her breathing gentle in sleep. And though the phone rings occasionally, startling in the overwhelming silence, I've turned off the music, the better to hear the rare [...]
This well-covered ballad, originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell just over fifty years ago yet so timeless it's often erroneously cited as a traditional tune, is not as simple as it seems. Where the vast majority of both traditional and modern folksongs range from simple verse to simple chorus and back again - if indeed they use chorus structure at all - here, the doubled chorus makes for a tripartite pattern, a heart-stutter that well suits the Saki tale of the story, twisted and self-sacrificing, with its well-timed reveal at the end of the second verse, and its grounding [...]
It's another busy week here in the boyhowdy household, what with our production of Willy Wonka a week away and midterm grading upon us at my day job. But I'm not even home today - I'm three hours away, crashing in an old friend's off-season beach house, so I can attend tomorrow's annual conference of the state's School Committees and Superintendents, where they'll be discussing social media in the classroom and school policy crafting, two subjects near and dear to my media-teaching heart. It's not a vacation per se; indeed, with [...]
Austinite singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has long teetered on the line between country and folk, successfully selling out mid-size concert halls and finding radioplay on both Country and Folk stations nationwide. She's well-covered in both arenas, most especially by other crossover artists, her songs finding voice in the hands and mouths of Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, Red Molly, Eliza Gilkyson and others. But it's telling that Griffith's own albums and singles have never truly topped the charts in either category. The complicated web of factors which have led to a [...]
It's Halloween weekend, and the convenience stores are already crawling with costumed partiers, weaving to and fro in the aisles with their masks askew. Back at school, the kids are having a Halloween black-light dance; here at home, we're gearing up for a Wonka Weekend - I'll be the Candyman, the better to hand out treats; the wee ones are a Oompa Loompa and a squirrel, respectively; and won't we look grand, in bright costumes and borrowed wigs, at the local children's museum tomorrow evening, then up and down the streets of smalltown America on Sunday proper. [...]
The days grow short enough to burn at both ends; it's dark when I wake, still dark when I leave for work, and dusk when I return. In today's rain, it was darker still: hard to find the school building in the thick, clouded air; dismal on the return trip, wind whipping wet leaves across my path as I crested the hill into the mist towards home. I'm hardly home, of course. Play rehearsals in the looming darkness of the local town hall take their toll, as do late [...]
You may not recognize the name Jim Sampas, but true-blue coverfans know his work: as the guiding light behind two of the decade's strongest album-centered tribute albums - turn-of-the-century alt-country-to-popfolk Springsteen tribute Badlands and 2005 indie Beatles tribute This Bird Has Flown - the producer has made an unparalleled mark on the evolving world of coverage. Recently, Sampas started new label ReImagine Music as a vehicle for his ongoing pursuit of all things coverage, and his first solo project, Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan's 'Bringing It All [...]
You may not recognize the name Jim Sampas, but true-blue coverfans know his work: as the guiding light behind two of the decade's strongest album-centered tribute albums - turn-of-the-century alt-country-to-popfolk Springsteen tribute Badlands and 2005 indie Beatles tribute This Bird Has Flown - the producer has made an unparalleled mark on the evolving world of coverage. In the past year, Sampas has started new label ReImagine Music as a vehicle for his ongoing pursuit of all things coverage, and his first solo project, Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan's 'Bringing It All [...]
After 25 Grammy Awards and just about as many albums, Stevie Wonder needs little introduction. Signed to Motown Records at the tender age of 11 after being discovered by Ronnie White of the Miracles, the blind-from-infancy multi-instrumentalist's first two albums didn't make much of a splash - his sophomore outing, a tribute to the songs of Ray Charles, is notorious for the poor match it makes between "Uncle Ray's" world-weary lyricism and "Little" Stevie Wonder's sunny, high-pitched innocence - but his subsequent work as a composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger is legendary. [...]
If we ever had doubts about the potential success of running a house concert series in a town of 8,000 people, this season's offerings have put them firmly to rest. After two years, A Tree Falls Productions has moved on to bigger pastures, thanks to the nice guys who run the B&B at the top of our local food chain, and the cascade effect has been miraculous: our guest list has grown larger, our draw is bigger, and the local building inspector has started sniffing around, trying to decide if our little private occasionals are [...]
The mailbox is stuffed to the gills with sweet sounds from artists we first noted as new and rising stars - a validating turn of events, proving that the young songwriters we feature in our New Artists, Old Songs series and elsewhere really are the next generation of folk music. Today, we celebrate our prescience with a look at the newest output from some increasingly familiar under-thirty voices, each well worth keeping on the radar screen. Though we featured her famous families early [...]
Cover Lay Down
[LISTEN] Gotye (Passion Pit Remix)
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
