Laura Cantrell, Peel Acres, May 8, 2003

This is one of my musical touchstones (I get these about once a decade or so) that completely shifts my musical orientation. In this case, it turned me (back) to acoustic-based music: folk, bluegrass, or, in somewhat watered-down form, "singer-songwriter."  I downloaded this session from the usenet soon after it was broadcast. I'm not sure, but I don't think there was any other way to get John Peel in the US back then. I downloaded it on a lark, as usual.  I didn't know who John Peel was, didn't know who Laura Cantrell was. But I heard that spark. Once in a decade or so, I hear it. Re-listening to this session now, it's still there.

Shenandoah Cut Ups

I'm a bluegrass novice, but I listen to Bluegrass Breakdown every week, and I often find something compelling to search out and buy (if it's available).  I am gradually refining my bluegrassical palate. I veer toward the "old-timey" end of the genre for, perhaps, karmic reasons--but more likely because that's what I grew up listening to--my father had a bunch of bluegrass records, as well as some early "good" country singles (most notably, Porter Wagoner's first 45 from 1954).

I won't say anything bad about mainstream country music, per se; I just don't listen to it, for the same reason that I don't listen to much else that's on the radio. Too bland, too uninteresting.

(A side note: Nashville tourists are easy to spot: they're the only ones wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and various hats. I'm just not hip to that jive.)

There is something universally compelling about good folk and bluegrass (and some country). It is, after all, "roots music," and when you reach a certain age--assuming that you're still interested in discovering and owning good music--you want to discover the sounds behind the sounds that moved you as an adolescent. And the 1960s and 1970s in particular were quietly informed by the folk and bluegrass bubbling up in the background. (When I first heard some early Buck Owens, for example, my first thought was, "This sounds just like the Monkees!")

Which brings me, circuitously, to the Shenandoah Cut Ups. "Bluegrass Breakdown" recently featured three cuts from the self-titled album from 1973. I made note of the group, went online, expecting to pick up the CD--only to discover that there is no CD. In fact, only limited numbers of the vinyl (Rebel 1526) exist. I snatched up a "very good" graded vinyl copy for what I considered to be a fair price of $18, and I'm glad that I did. They're all gone now, at least on Amazon.com.

Very little information exists online for either the Shenandoah Cut Ups, or the Rebel 1526 album.

I can't put my finger on why this particular album is so good. It may simply be a combination of simpatico musicians and the magic of the moment--that undefinable, unidentifiable element that causes a particular session to be transcendent. However, if you do find this album somewhere, give it a spin--I won't even begin to try to describe why this album is particularly in-the-pocket. And if some informed reader stumbles upon this blog and knows more about the Shenandoah Cut Ups, circa 1973, I'd like to know more.

American Top 40 - The 70s: May 1, 1976

Every other week or so, I download Casey Kasem's "American Top 40 - The 70s" from dar.fm--well worth the price, and a service I'm happy to promote.  (It's one of the few online services that I pay for.)  I was an avid listener of Casey Kasem in the day.  (A shift in my music tastes caused me to lose interest in the "Top 40" format by the late '70s.)  But it's a nice break to re-hear some of those classic shows again.

So, I lived it.  Is it worth re-living it?  What, possibly, could I hear now that I didn't hear then?

Well, one thing that I hear now--and suspected at the time--is that 70s Top 40s music is, generally, awful.  Much worse-sounding now than I remember it being at the time.

Something else I've noticed is that the Top 40 playlist can be roughly broken down into several broad categories: songs that have been played to death by "classic FM radio" in the ensuing decades; novelties by marginal acts that are justifiably forgotten now; and, some intriguing music that I either ignored at the time, or have forgotten about since, that deserve a new listen.

It's to that last category that I'd like to give tribute to: The songs and artists from American Top 40 that are forgotten now, but today make me go, "Whoa--who's that?  And where do I buy that 45?"

Today's tribute is to a group largely forgotten today, but whose single, "Union Man," is a truly contemporary blend of guitar funk with an menacing urban backbeat: the Cate Brothers.

I vaguely remember the song from the time.  I definitely remember the record.... I saw it in abundance at used record stores.  But it wasn't until today that I truly *heard* it.

This debut album is available today (for a price) on CD, but I  picked up a still-sealed vinyl copy.

So far, the rest of "American Top 40" from May 1, 1976 is the predictable blend of really bland stuff that, even now, I can't remember listening to, an hour or two after the fact.

But I'm only halfway through it, so there might be a Part Two to this otherwise forgettable week in music history--the Cate Brothers, notwithstanding.