Two excellent Nashville concerts this month

First was Paul McCartney, a voice from my 1960s (a decade that I remember all too well), and Mindy Smith, who did a tenth-anniversary live rendition of "One Moment More."  It was my first for Mindy, fifth for Paul. Mindy was clearly nervous at the beginning, fearful, she said, at performing these "old" songs. I sent her positive vibes; hopefully they helped. Of the singer-songwriters who come and go (and casual readers of this lowly blog know that this is my current bag, and has been for a while), Mindy Smith is one of those rare performers who would motivate me to drag myself to Nashville and pay for valet parking at some toney wine-establishment-frequented-by-millennials kind of scene (even if they do have wine on tap). Back in the day, I was an evangelist for Ms. Smith. I've turned more than one person on to her unique aural presence (even an agnostic who professed to hating her for recording "Come To Jesus," but later recanted after hearing the whole CD).  More than once I've wondered: how could this Long Island New Yorker express such authentic Americana?  But then, Gillian Welch is from New York also.  Perhaps there's something about New York that predisposes musicians to be un-New Yorkish and to seek authenticity where it is most easily found. Hey, even Mike Doughty is covering John Denver now.  BTW: "Come To Jesus" was the final song of her encore.  I suspected that it would be her finale, but I didn't know how the millennial crowd would respond. I needn't have feared; this was Mindy's crowd... It merited the last of several standing ovations.

A Mike Doughty curiosity

For the past year or so, I've been playing what apparently is a Mike Doughty "greatest hits" collection that is available only outside the a United States and Canada: "Introduction," on the label Nois-O-Lution, catalog number B001LPDJMY. You can find this disc on various international Amazon.coms, but no other info except maybe a track listing--no reviews, no notes. I wasn't even sure that it was a legitimate release (you can get bootlegs and probably counterfeits on Amazon.com; I keep looking for in vain "David Hasselhoff, Live In Germany").  So here's the cover:

I've been listening to the mp3s that I "found" somewhere but I decided to spring for the CD because is functions as a really good "greatest hits" of Mike Doughty's early period.

American Top 40, June 26, 1976

As I've mentioned before, I remember the music of 1976 as being better than it actually was. Still, the now-late Casey Kasem was a staple of my teen years and I certainly won't complain that his classic shows are being re-run. (I'm downloading them from 94.5 KOOL FM via dar.fm.)  While I credit myself as having a near-pornographic memory of that time, there were a few surprises from that show, to wit:

*If I ever knew this, I'd forgotten it: Todd Rundgren did a perfect note-for-note cover of the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" that got into the Top 40 that summer. Funny that I've never read about this in any of the adulatory (and probably deserved) Rundgren reportage that came later.

*One of my fave tunes from that year, "More More More," was introduced by Casey as being by Andrea True "from Nashville."  I'd forgotten that Andrea True, like Bettie Page, was from Nashville.

*A song that I did know, but had completely forgotten about, was America's "Today's The Day" (from their "Hideaway" album).  To my 2014 ears, though, it's an incredibly good song, well-crafted and well-produced, and it holds up very well. There's a hint of Beach Boys in the production.

*Speaking of which, it's only because the Beach Boys are so great that I forgive them for their '76 version of "Rock and Roll Music."  (The album that it came from, however--"15 Big Ones"--is a memorable one for me and impossible for me to dislike.)

*The standout tune from that show was Marvin Gaye's "I Want You."

Ray Smith has finally disappeared from the airwaves

Jazz collector extraordinaire Ray Smith passed away in 2010 at the age of 87, but his weekly radio show, "Jazz Decades," had been on the air for many, many years. I didn't become a fan until a year or so ago, when dar.fm made it possible for me to record online radio audio (a great service which I highly recommend, by the way).  His hour-long show became a weekly habit. I discovered many "new" artists through his show.  But the one radio station that broadcast his archives--KCSM in San Mateo--has apparently run out of past shows. They ceased broadcasting "Jazz Decades" about a month ago.  And I can't find the show listed anywhere else.  (WGBH has a handful of shows on their site, but nowhere near the thousands that Ray broadcast.)  Such a shame that this wonderful resource has been lost.

If you are a fan of Ray Smith, or perhaps know of where I might find some archived recordings of "Jazz Decades," feel free to post a comment.

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.