Blog: Old Blue Bus

M any years ago, I spent some time alone in a canoe in western Ontario and eastern Manitoba. Me, my canoe, gear, and supplies were loaded onto a CN boxcar. The engineer stopped the train at the river crossing that we had agreed to and promised to stop again in a week to pick me up. It was a service CN offered to backcountry paddlers and backpackers. The Canadian National Railways crosses the continent much as the Old Blue Bus will today. From Toronto, Ontario, Prairie Oyster have been serving up country, country-rock and country-swing for [...]

The Appalachian region is known around the world for two things that we hold dear here on the 'Bus; bluegrass and moonshine! I'm not one to pass up a good parkin' lot pickin' session or a clear quart of 'shine. So pull up a seat, tune up your axe, and pass that jar. Grandpa Jones - Mountain Dew Jimmy Martin - Moonshine Hollow Bryan Bowers - Festival Love Salamander Crossing - Tear My Stillhouse Down

My love of folk music all started when I first heard Ian & Sylvia on the radio. It was in the mid 60's, the folk resurgence was well underway, and this couple from Canada caught my ear. They separated in music and marriage in the mid 70's. Ian moved back to Alberta and is still a driving force in Canada's country music scene. Sylvia has returned to the studio a few times also. Here is a cut from their early days as a duet and more recent solo cuts from each. Ian & Sylvia [...]

John McCutcheon, a fellow Virginian, has long been a favorite here on the 'Bus. John has been making music that opens peoples eyes, lifts their hearts, and makes them think on their own for over 30 years. I'll refrain from any political discussion here, as hard as that is for me. John's new release, "The Greatest Story Never Told" is on Greg Brown's Red House Records , and has a drive and power that we haven't heard from John is some time. John McCutcheon - Ghosts of the Good [...]

I had all sorts of stuff planned for today's post. Well, maybe not really planned, more like a bunch of half-assed ideas that just wouldn't come together. So I pulled the cork on a bottle of inspiration and started spinnin' cd's and lp's just to see what would happen. What have I got to show for it? Well, I'm affraid this bottle is just as empty as my head. I have listened to a lot of stuff that may inspire something down the road, but "tonight, the bottle let me down". So here's a few cuts from things I can [...]

So far this week we've taken a look at some white country guitarists who were influenced by the blues. Like Riley Puckett, Albert Cummings started on the 5 string banjo. He remembers, "I’d go to bluegrass festivals and watch the main stage acts. The fun though was at night when I could wander through the campgrounds, and there’d be a jam session every 100 feet." And like Puckett, Cummings made the transition to guitar. The seed was planted when he was 16 or 17 and a brother-in-law gave him tapes of Stevie Ray Vaughan during the Texas Flood period. "It’s [...]

Had your fill of the same old Christmas songs on the radio already? Make a trip over to Big Rock Candy Mountain . I'd be willing to bet none of these Christmas songs are in rotation on your local radio. Be sure to check back every day for a new song.

We got us a song about a man who lives off what his girlfriend can steal, lays around the house doing cocaine and doesn't get upset when the furniture man comes to reposses his furniture, as long as he can get his next fix. Could this be the latest hip-hop release from someone with his pants around his knees and 10 pounds of gold around his neck? That demon mind-rot that booms from passing cars. The pounding beat that is driving our young people to drugs, sex, and utter moral decay? This ol' world is goin' to hell [...]

Stumble on over to Locust St. JudgeParker has served up another round of his incredible series 7 Drinks of Mankind . Be sure to sample a few from the wine list.

Yesterday's post got me to thinking about how the blues influenced country music. Surely Frank Hutchison had an influence on more than just Doc Watson. There were other white old-timey guitar players that incorporated blues licks and riffs into their songs. Riley Puckett was one of the most popular white country blues singers of his era. His music didn't sound like the old-timey hillbilly songs of Uncle Dave Macon. Perhaps, like Hutchison, he knew the blues. Riley Puckett was born in Alpharetta, Georgia, May 7, 1894. As a baby he had sore [...]

Frank Hutchison was a white coal miner in Logan, West Virginia who could associate with the hard-luck tunes of his black coworkers. The miners, both black and white worked side by side in a dangerous, low paying job. They knew the blues as well as any share cropper in Mississippi. Hutchison learned the guitar at an early age, listening to a black railroad worker named Henry Vaughn, that he had made friends with when he was 8 years old. He played and traded licks with Bill Hunt, a crippled black guitarist who lived nearby and his neighbor, Dick Justice, both [...]

The 'Bus will be parked for a few days while I enjoy plenty of food, drink, and good times with my family. Y'all have a good Thanksgiving. As some of you know, I actively support several organizations that make real differences in the lives of people. At this time of year we should all remember those that are less fortunate. Having been without a home, living in a tent in the park with a wife and three young children, I am very grateful for the services that these organizations provide. Please help [...]

Drink, beer in particular, is a subject near to my heart. It ranks right up there with music as one of the major forces that has shaped my life. I know the same is true for several regular readers (you know who you are). If you have a passion for good music and have spent any time at all on a barstool, you need to hop off the 'Bus and stumble on over to Locust St. where the good Judge Parker has posted the first installment of an incredible series entitled 7 Drinks of Mankind [...]

I have just learned that Link Wray has died. Head on over to Spread the Good Word for the good Reverend Frost's excellent obituary and some mp3s. Then get on over to PCL LinkDump for lots of good Link Wray tributes and links. Rumble on. Link Wray & The Raymen - Rumble

The great canal period in American history is a short, but important one. Nearly all of the major cities in North America east of the mighty Mississippi River were established along navigable waterways. The rivers and lakes were the major mode of transportation for the original inhabitats and also for the explorers and settlers who displaced them. Many of these cities were built at the head of navigation, where further passage upstream was blocked by treacherous rapids and falls. Two of these cities that I am very familliar with are Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. Both were built where ships [...]

In the hills of Washington D.C., 1957, Charlie Waller, Bill Emerson, and John Duffy formed the Country Gentlemen. They broke all the rules for a bluegrass band at the time. They weren't from the Appalachian region, they didn't dress in little uniforms, and they didn't play traditional songs from the mountains. What they did do was love bluegrass music, adapt modern songs to fit the style and they took the music world by storm. It was the era of the folk music revival and for nearly ten years, the Country Gentlemen rode the wave of popularity, disbanding in the late [...]

While wandering through my record collection, yes, vinyl records, I came across two bands that are were pivotal in the development of Bluegrass/Country/Country-Rock . The Dillards (also known as "the Darling Boys" on The Andy Griffith Show) and the Byrds. Not only did these two bands set the stage for the mellow country-rock of the '70s (Eagles, Pure Prairie league, Marshal Tucker, Poco...)but they affected every bluegrass and country musician since. Especially after the Dillards landmark "Will the Circle be Unbroken" lp. Both bands helped to blur the lines between the genres. They changed and traded personnel throughout their long histories. [...]

Greg, over at Enchilada's Blog , left a comment on the Alvin Crow song I posted last week and requested a song that was not on the same lp as "Texas Kid's Retirement Run". I had mistakenly said that Alvin Crow only recorded one album with the Pleasant Valley Boys, but I have two different albums by them! There's a lesson here somewhere, but it alludes me. I would like to thank Greg for adding a link from his site back to the 'Bus. I recommend a click over to Enchilada's Blog for [...]

The drive in this morning was beautiful. The sky was covered with a billowing blanket of clouds. The bright morning sun seeking out holes, piercing the cover with bright columns. A patchwork of red, yellow and brown leaves dancing in the breeze. Autumn has finally arrived. Mornings like this are humbling. It realigns one's priorities and sets the foundation for a good day. Music can have the same effect. Today we have two women singer/songwriters who have the ability to paint a picture in your mind with their words. [...]

From his "Fields of November" lp Norman Blake - Lord Won't You Help Me Blake and Bromberg. A tribute to sidemen. Two of the best there ever was.