After more than thirty years in the business, Billy Bragg has earned a reputation as one of folk's elder statesmen. The rough punk edges have been sanded down and the brash Essex accent has softened on Tooth & Nail, his first album of original material since 2008 . Gone is the barricade-jumping, hard-living Bragg of old, perpetually thumbing his nose at the establishment and Maggie Thatcher. The intervening years have calmed him down, and this is most apparent on his new album. The 12 [...]
Memory is a funny thing. It the power to twist over time and become the source of our greatest pride or most painful regret. This week, the list obligatory looks at those songs that are simply about remembering. For many of us, memory is the one of the strongest forces in our [...]
Woody Guthrie would have been 100 today, and the folkways are imploding a bit as they celebrate the man who practically defines 21st century folk. But we've gone there already: a few weeks ago, in announcing the release of Little Seed, Elizabeth Mitchell's wonderful new tribute to his children's songs; in a comprehensive feature on the Guthrie family legacy back in 2010; in a score of other posts, as the modern inheritors of the singer-songwriter mantle have interpreted the songs of Woody Guthrie over and over again. Indeed, the Guthrie songbook is [...]
Yesterday, the Boss came to town. Bruce Springsteen delivered his SXSW Keynote Address in the afternoon, and in the evening, he and his E Street Band played their much-touted SXSW show. I didn't go, but I talked to a bunch of people who did, and nobody had anything bad to say about it. As luck would have it, the show took place on Woody Guthrie's birthday, and Springsteen marked the occasion by covering "This Land Is Your Land" and bringing along an all-star crew of People Springsteen Likes: Arcade Fire, Tom Morello, the Animals' Eric Burdon, Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely, [...]
Ontem, você foi testemunha, via internet, de um momento icônico: em seu discurso no festival SXSW, Bruce Springsteen apresentou um trecho de uma versão sua para a histórica This land is your land , hino de forte tom político criado pelo ícone do folk Woody Guthrie . Você achava que nada poderia superar aquele momento? Em menos de 24 horas, o momento já foi superado. Se o vídeo original mostrava um Bruce solitário, o chefe convocou companhia para sua segunda rendição da faixa tradicional de Guthrie . Em seu show em [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Getty Images for SXSW "Happy birthday, Woody," were the first words out of Bruce Springsteen 's mouth at his "intimate" SXSW concert, a ticket so hot amongst the tens of thousands here in Austin that they were handed out by lottery. And in honour of Woody Guthrie 's centenial, The Boss and his increasingly sprawling E Street Band delivered a moving, powerful [...]
Em um festival conhecido por reunir tudo que é novo e até mesmo inexperiente no mundo da música, palco dos primeiros passos de várias bandas, quem possui um legado que o rendeu o apelido de "chefe" merece uma posição especial. Assim como um orador em uma formatura, Bruce Springsteen abriu o festival SXSW, em Austin, Texas, com um discurso absolutamente inspirador. No seu discurso, Bruce homenageou Woody Guthrie , ícone folk que completa seu centenário em 2012 e influenciou claramente o trabalho mais recente de Springsteen , Wrecking Ball , além [...]
The songwriter will play the Casbah this Saturday. Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.
In this instalment of Murder Songs, we look at three real-life characters, from the 1890s, 1930s and 1950s. * * * Woody Guthrie - Pretty Boy Floyd (1940).mp3 Charles Arthur ‘Pretty Boy” Floyd was a real-life criminal who came a cropper at the hands of law enforcement officers in 1934, at the age of 30. Wikipedia tells his story in some detail, including murders he might have committed or not. His fame rested with [...]
Or, America: Fuck Yeah Jimi Hendrix - "Star-Spangled Banner > Purple Haze" [Live] Marvin Gaye - "The National Anthem" [Live] The Impressions - "This Is My Country" Chuck Berry - "Promised Land" [Single Version] Grateful Dead - "U.S. Blues" [Live] Woody Guthrie - "This Land Is Your Land" Elton John - "Philadelphia Freedom" Elliott Smith - "Independence Day" [...]
As expected, the amiable folk artist was at the top of his game. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.
Bob Dylan once wrote a song to Woody Guthrie (A Song to Woody was the official title) while Guthrie, increasingly unable to control his muscle movements due to Huntington's Disease, was hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. It's addressed to Woody, but also meant for all the old folk singers that were losing touch with the new modern world. A world that was increasingly forgetting about them. Woody Guthrie sung of the Depression mainly the Dust Bowl Refugees that had come to California seeking work only to be turned away. I've referred to what I think is the [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News After 65 days on the road, AA Bondy ended his 2009 fall tour Wednesday night at New York City's Bowery Ballroom, special guests in tow. "I've got a few surprises left," a characteristically deadpan Bondy said midway through the show. "I think Bruce Springsteen is gonna come out for the last song. So I'm out of my mind." He was kidding about Springsteen, but the ramblin' Alabama-bred singer-songwriter did get some help from his friends, two members of similarly [...]
It has come to that time of the year/decade where innumerable lists will come out touting writers knowledge of music by saying what's the best album, songs or artists of the decade/year. Some are interesting reads, others are banal wastes of time & yet others are pretentious attempts at musical superiority while showing you have little knowledge about "real" music. It is this final category that Paste Magazine's 30 best covers of the decade falls into. Covers are a delicate subject with me. A cover song must be at least similar to the original. Otherwise, you're [...]
Remember when bands made records? Not ten-song collections of iTunes downloads, but complete, thematic bodies of work meant to be analyzed and appreciated as such? It is worth noting that, while the "single" as a concept has been around since long before Steve Jobs revolutionized portable and digital music, many of the most enduring songs of the last half-century were elements of larger artistic statements ("Like a Rolling Stone," "London Calling," and "Purple Rain," to name a few). With Oh My God, Charlie Darwin , The Low Anthem have crafted a collection of sparse, dynamic songs which, [...]
The other day I posted a first batch of songs that had been recorded as tributes to other artists. Originally I planned to just write one post on the theme but when I realised that a Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie thread ran through so many of the songs, a separate selection seemed justified... MP3: Dan Bern - Talkin' Woody Bob Bruce Dan Blues (live) MP3: Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (acoustic) [...]
--Edit: Lots of posts disappearing from blogger. I'm reposting this one with links since it was so recent, but the others will be sadly link-less.-- An exciting day tomorrow. I don’t even remember what it’s like to have a government I trust, so it’ll be nice to see old G-Dubs head back to Crawford. Here’s hoping that Obama and co. can get this country back on the road to peace, justice, and compassion. Elliot Murphy - Better Days (Bruce Springsteen) One of Springsteen’s better songs from [...]
Woody was really fucking good, too. He was really an amazing songwriter. My generation grew up, everybody sang "This Land Is Your Land," it's just some of us knew what it was about and others didn't. I happened to grow up knowing what it was about. But all the other kids I grew up with sang it in school the way Ronald Reagan quoted "Born in the USA." -Steve Earle, on Rolling Stone.com , March 30, 1999 [...]
An exciting day tomorrow. I don’t even remember what it’s like to have a government I trust, so it’ll be nice to see old G-Dubs head back to Crawford. Here’s hoping that Obama and co. can get this country back on the road to peace, justice, and compassion. Elliot Murphy - Better Days (Bruce Springsteen) One of Springsteen’s better songs from his stagnant period with the “Other Band” in the early 90’s. He often joked that after decades of songs about the down-and-out, when he finally wrote some [...]
I don't know why the NFL thinks Bruce Springsteen is going to be able to play three songs in 15 minutes. He'll probably use up the entire time telling a story or something before getting the hook. Anyway, his intro for this Woody Guthrie song is quite earnest, but it's a good version of the song. It's why working people connected with The Boss in the first place. I hope he brings some of this magic to the inauguration tomorrow. [via Clusterflock ]
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Cover Lay Down
Stereogum
Rock 'n' Beats
Spinner.com
owl and bear
Any Major Dude With Half A Heart
The Stranger Dance
The De Mello Theory
Nine Bullets
Carnival Saloon
Cover Me
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The Sly Oyster
L.A.M.P. “Springtime” [mp3]
