10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

It's been a long time since I've done one of these posts. It used to be a staple of my Sunday night blogging. Here's what I've been listening to recently:

1. Through My Father's Eyes - Dusty Brown - Dusty Brown
2. She Towers Above - Alejandro Escovedo - More Miles Than Money - Live, 1994-1996
3. How My Heart Behaves - Feist - The Reminder
4. All My Love Is Gone - Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth
5. Jersey Girl - Tom Waits - Heartattack and Vine
6. Always Now - Willie Nelson - Moment Of Forever
7. West - Lucinda Williams - West
8. Over You Again - Willie Nelson - Moment Of Forever
9. Drunken Angel - Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
10. Arizona - Alejandro Escovedo - The Boxing Mirror

The first song is by one of my college roommates. I've mentioned Dusty before, when I wrote about how I was first introduced to Tom Waits. We spent many evenings during our sophomore year hanging out with our other roommate Joe, our friend Vin, a couple of guitars and Dusty's harmonica. All three of those guys have more musical talent than I, so it was always great to listen and occasionally sing along.

I've recently joined Facebook, which is how I found out that Dusty released an album this past summer. (Go here to listen, and then to to buy!) I knew that he was a part of a comedy group, but this is a serious album. The song in my list above, Through My Father's Eyes, is great. Without falling into bitterness, it is about the loss of growing up without a father. I hear a sense of forgiveness that does not downplay the cost of the decisions that father made. There is a maturity to those lyrics that is surprising for a debut album. I'd definitely be a fan even if I didn't spend a year stepping over his dirty underwear every time I got out of bed.

My poor, neglected blog

It's been over a month without any activity on my blog. Sigh.

In the past month...

1. I felt proud to be an American. I think part of the reason I have not been writing much (or even reading other blogs) is that after the election I felt a huge sense of relief. Before the election, I felt like I had to know everything I could about the world of politics on a daily basis because some new horrible thing might be happening. Beginning on January 20, adults will be back in the White House.
   
   Four years ago, when we re-elected a president who we knew authorized torture, I think I was depressed for weeks. I could not believe what we had done. It only took a couple of years for the American public to really understand what kind of president Bush has been, but the reasons his approval ratings have been at record lows were all evident four years ago. Obama has a lot of crap to undo.
   
   
2. The National Bureau of Economic Research officially announced that we have been in a recession.
   
   
3. I have tried to buy a house. At the moment, it looks like I need to start over.
   
   
4. I bought a new camera. My old one ended up getting something stuck inside the lens, so there was a mark on the right side of every picture. You can see an example below.
   
   I looked into getting the camera repaired, but it would have cost about $200 just for the shop to open it up and clean it. Not only would there be no guarantee that the $200 would actually fix the problem, but it could take up to 8 weeks for me to get the camera back. That would be cutting it too close to my trip to Hong Kong, so I bit the bullet and got a SLR. I hope to have lots of practice with it before my trip. Here's an action shot of the puppy from my first practice session.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. I've been making dinner every Sunday night at my church this fall. It's been a great experience. I'll be writing more about these dinners in the future.
   
   
6. It's Advent! My favorite time of year music-wise has arrived. I rarely listen to classical music, but that changes in December. Today we did Lessons & Carols at church, which included some pretty tough pieces. I have not participated in Christmas Eve services at my church before, but based on the music we are preparing, it should be amazing.
   

The Decembrists

The years that I lived in Washington were a dark period for me as it relates to music. With one notable exception, I did not discover any new artists (I knew of Alejandro when I moved to WA but only became a fan when a friend gave me tickets to see him live in Seattle) and I rarely listened to the music that I already owned. One of the Northwest's bands that I missed out on is The Decembrists.

Last weekend, when I was watching Mad Men (the best show on TV right now - if you haven't seen it, go rent season 1. There are some uneven moments and times when the novelties of life in the late 1950's pulls you out of the story, but they have really hit their stride in season 2) the opening sequence was set to The Decembrist's song "The Infanta." The song is captivating.

Since then, I've been trying to familiarize myself with this interesting band. Like one of my favorite musicians from college, Bill Mallonee, the songwriter is a bit of a history buff. "The Infanta" is about the birth of a Spanish princess in 1824. Another new favorite of mine is "When the War Came." Here is what frontman Colin Meloy said about the song.

The last great book I read was Hunger by Elise Blackwell. It’s about the siege of Leningrad in World War II, and there was a botanical institute. During the siege, which lasted a long time, the entire population were starving, but all of the botanists in the institute swore themselves to protect the catalog of seeds and plants and things, from not only a starving population, but also from themselves. It’s pretty amazing.

The Infanta





When The War Came

Be Okay

At the kitchen where I work, we listen to satellite radio. There is AAA station that we all like, and it actually plays many of the artists that are in my iTunes playlists, but they so make some weird choices. They play Bruce Cockburn, but most of the time the Cockburn song they play is from 1984, "If I Had A Rocket Launcher." Either they are trying to make a political statement or they never listened to his 9 more recent albums. And even though one of the benefits from satellite radio is suppose to be their much broader playlist than traditional radio, this station occasionally gets stuck in a rut.

A couple of weeks ago it was a John Mellencamp rut. They played two straight weeks of Melloncamp. That's right, 14 days, from the John Cougar days, then the John Cougar Mellencamp days, and finally the John Mellencamp days. They did a Sheryl Crow week earlier in the year, but at least that week was largely Crow acting as the DJ and choosing other artist's music to play. I could tolerate Crow the DJ, but two weeks of Mellencamp is two weeks too many.

This past week, the rut they fell into was with one song. I heard the same song, "Be Okay," three times in the same day. It was catchy and I could not get the chorus ("I just want to be okay, be okay, be okay, I just want to be okay...) out of my head. That night I tried to find out more about the song and discovered that it was recorded by Ingrid Michaelson.

Michaelson is one of those indie artist who is experimenting with new ways to make a living in the music world. Early on, she relied on her myspace page as well as lots of performance in coffeeshops. Her first big break was when three of her songs were used on "Grey's Anatomy" (a guilty pleasure of mine) The producers of "Grey's Anatomy" asked her to write a song specifically for the show, and it was prominently played during closing moments of the 2007 season finale. Last fall, Old Navy used one of her songs ("The Way I Am") in a commercial.

It used to be that music fans worries about their favorite arists, like Bob Dylan or The Who, "selling out." Today, in part to avoid the artistic compromises that come from signing with a music label, even indie artists are using TV shows and commercials as a way to spread their music. It has worked for Michaelson.

All of this post is mostly an excuse to post this video of Michaelson displaying her knowledge of pop culture from the year 1990. I bet her concerts are fun.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Swallows of San Juan - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
2. Chip N' Tony - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
3. Chelsea Hotel '78 - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
4. Sister Lost Soul - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
5. Smoke - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
6. Sensitive Boys - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
7. Golden Bear - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
8. Hollywood Hills - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
9. Slow Down - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
10. Nuns Song - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

No surprise that I've been listening to Real Animal a lot recently. The ballads on this album (Swallows of San Juan, Hollywood Hills, Golden Bear, Sensitive Boys, Slow Down) are some of my favorites. Occasionally the backing vocals are a bit smaltzy for my taste, which is kind of funny to have on an album that is nostalgic for Alejandro's punk days. I can't wait to hear these songs performed live.

Real Animal...

...is here. I picked up (actually I downloaded) Alejandro Escovedo's latest, which was released today. I've listen through 1.5 times. It's good. The Alejandro albums with which I am most familiar are from the late 90's through today, so this one shows a bit of a new side of Alejandro to me. I dig his alt-country stuff from the past decade, but this one goes back to his punk and rock roots.

My first impression is that the things about Alejandro's music that I love are definitely present. Melody might not be his strong suit, but his arrangements (particularly the use of strings) are wonderful. I think I will need to listen a few more times before having anything more insightful to say.

The video below is of Alejandro talking about Real Animal.

Alejandro

The Pitch (KC's weekly alternative paper) previewed Alejandro's show this afternoon at the Wakarusa festival in Lawrence. He played early enough in the afternoon that I could not make due to work.

When you watch Alejandro Escovedo live, you can be pretty sure you're watching the best band in America that night. His usual lineup often includes violin and cello in addition to a typical five-piece band. Escovedo's musicians move from the desperate, quiet spaces between lovers in the wee hours to dark urban soundscapes, incorporating strings from Lou Reed's Street Hassle and often climaxing the show with the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Escovedo manages to take the musical and lyrical guts of the greatest Mott the Hoople song (or that of any other band that makes rock sound like it just might save your life) and cross them with his own unabashedly intimate and defiant vision. The Boxing Mirror was his first release after the illness that almost took his life a few years back, but his new one, Real Animal (due June 24, co-written with Chuck Prophet), is the album of an artist reborn. (D.A.)

Just a few weeks until I can get my hands on Real Animal. I can't wait. Here's video of Alejandro performing the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" that was mention above.


This video, while it's quality is lacking even by YouTube standards, gives you a feel of the softer side of a live Alejandro experience.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

I usually exclude any podcasts that I've listened to in these lists, so this weekend I thought I would list in order the podcasts that I listen to most frequently.

1. Left, Right, and Center
2. World Cafe's Words and Music
   
3. This American Life
   
4. Washington Week (and the Washington Week Webcast Extra)
5. The Brian Leher Show
6. The Leonard Lopate Show
7. The Splendid Table
8. NPR Driveway Moments
9. Fresh Air with Terry Gross
10. On the Media

It's interesting that all of these podcasts are originally either radio or TV shows. I do occasionally listen to some podcasts that originated as podcasts (The Mac Observer's Mac Geek Gab, The New York Times' World View, the US National Soccer Team's official podcast, Paste Magazine's Culture Club, Barack Obama's weekly podcast during his first year and a half or so in the Senate, the podcasts for Lost and Battlestar Galactica) but podcasts are mostly a more convenient way for me to access traditional media.

When I lived in Washington, I listened to podcasts a lot more because of how much time I spent driving to work and at least one or two trips to Olympia each week. Today my commute is 5 minutes and the furthest I drive on a regular basis is to the downtown Costco every couple of weeks. That means that it is almost alway music playing on my truck's ipod.

Baby in Black

My parents were the first couple among their group of friends in Georgia to have a baby, so I was "adopted" by some of them. Mel and Debbie, in particular, spent a lot of time with me. It was Mel who introduced me to the joys of Saturday morning cartoons and old school country music. I've heard stories about him perching me on the center console in the front seat of his car so that I would be close to the radio. We would both sing along as loud as possible with artists such as The Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash. I don't know if I've listened to The Stanley Brothers since then (although anyone who has seen O Brother, Where Art Thou? or listened to the soundtrack is familiar with the surviving brother, Ralph) but Cash stuck.

In the spirit of Mel, I figure that I should take some responsibility for shaping Finn's musical influences; hence my gift of the Cash onsie. I don't need to worry that Finn's life will lack music as it plays a big role in both of his parents' lives. Matt has an absolutely beautiful voice, but he's a tenor. I know he likes to sing Johnny Cash tunes to Finn, but to do Cash justice you gotta have that big resonance in your voice. Not that I am half the singer that Matt is (or Cash), but I am a bass. As you can see below, Finn is happy for me to help out.

More Alejandro

Paste Magazine published an interview with Alejandro about his new album. You could go read it on their site, but if you read the same interview at Alejandro's own website you can listen to three of the songs from "Real Animal." Here's the intro to the interview:

Although he's yet to cross into his sixth decade, it seems like Alejandro Escovedo has lived enough life to fill a century of lyric booklets. After a harrowing battle with Hepatitis C left him vomiting blood at the side of the stage in Arizona, the Austin-based musician gave up the rock-star lifestyle and delved into his near-death experience on 2006's brooding, John Cale-produced, critically-acclaimed album The Boxing Mirror. Escovedo's ninth solo offering, the upcoming Real Animal, chronicles the glory days of Escovedo's colorful journey, starting when he was a young California punk enraptured by glam rock and continuing through to when he settled down in Texas and began his solo career. In a neat turn of events, Real Animal was produced by the man who helmed so many of Escovedo's favorite records, the legendary Tony Visconti (T. Rex, Bowie, Morrissey...to name just a few). Paste spoke to Escovedo on the eve of South By Southwest, where he was preparing to perform Real Animal in its entirety with cowriter Chuck Prophet.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
2. Back To The Earth - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
3. Blue Diamonds - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
4. Ecstasy - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
5. Powderfinger @ - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
6. Weave - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
7. Cruel Sun - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
8. Too Much - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
9. Heaven - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
10. Cat Turned Blue - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston

Occasionally, I listen to an actual album instead of one my various playlists. Yesterday I was applying polyurethane to the hardwood floors my dad and I have been refinishing, and a Rusted Root concert seemed like an appropriate soundtrack.

Rusted Root was probably my favorite "local" band when I lived in Pittsburgh. CMU hosted a number of concerts during my years on campus, and Rusted Root was the best (The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones were great during my freshman year, but my enjoyment of that concert probably had more to do with the girl with whom I attended the show!)

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Request Line - Blackeyed Peas - Bridging the Gap
2. Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen - Magic
3. Tip Of My Tongue - The Choir - Orphans Of God (Disc 2)
4. Right Here, Right Now - Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
5. Don't Let The Man Get You Down - Fatboy Slim - The Greatest Hits
6. Wonderful Night - Fatboy Slim - SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist
7. I'm Not Afraid - Fleming & John - Delusions Of Grandeur
8. A Place Called Love - Fleming & John - Delusions Of Grandeur
9. Hung Up - Madonna - Confessions On a Dance Floor (Deluxe Version)
10. Dance My Pain Away - Rod Lee - The Wire...and all the pieces matter

I just synced my running ipod, so these songs are from my "Running" playlist. I particularly like "Don't Let The Man Get You Down," because in college I would have been counted as one of the "long haired freaky people."

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Air Mail Special - Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song [Disc 1]
2. Don't Be That Way - Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song [Disc 3]
3. A Fine Romance - Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song [Disc 3]
4. Save Me - Nina Simone - The Very Best Of Volume 2
5. Flamenco Sketches - Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
6. All Blues - Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
7. Arizona - Alejandro Escovedo - The Boxing Mirror
8. Pyramid Of Tears - Alejandro Escovedo - Gravity [Live] [Disc 2]
9. Go Ahead - Alicia Keys - As I Am
10. Rehab - Amy Winehouse - Back To Black Ltd. Ed. Reissue

I don't have as much to say about this list tonight. There's some jazz on it. As a Kansas City native, I feel like I ought to know more about jazz than I do. The few times that I've gone to a jazz club, I've been mesmerized. Some of the folks at Arts & Faith had some suggestions for those looking to explore jazz, which I why I picked up the Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone.

New album for Alejandro Escovedo!

From his website:

NEW YORK, April 17 /PRNewswire/ — REAL ANIMAL Alejandro Escovedo’s 9th solo album and follow-up to 2006’s critically-acclaimed THE BOXING MIRROR will be released in-stores and online June 24, 2008. A limited edition double vinyl release featuring two bonus tracks: “In Love Again” and a cover of the Stooges “I Got a Right” will be released on June 10, 2008. Produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T.Rex, Thin Lizzy), REAL ANIMAL is a collective journey through Escovedo’s various musical incarnations from punk rock to string quintets and is as introspective as it is retrospective. “The inspiration for this record really is my life in music and the characters that I have known in and throughout that life. It’s also about how music helped me survive that life,” Escovedo said. Recorded at Saint Claire Studios in Lexington, KY, REAL ANIMAL features a band of frequent collaborators, including David Pulkingham (guitar), Josh Gravelin (bass), Hector Munoz (drums), Susan Voelz (violin), Brian Standefer (cello) and Chuck Prophet (guitar).

The 13 original tracks on REAL ANIMAL unravel Escovedo’s musical autobiography while presenting him as a masterful American musician, whose palette encompasses eloquent string quintets and shattering blasts of punk rock. From his early days in the punk scene of San Francisco (”Nuns Song”) to chaotic times living at the Chelsea Hotel alongside Sid & Nancy (”Chelsea Hotel ‘78″) through his pioneering alt-country days with Rank & File (”Chip n’ Tony”), REAL ANIMAL weaves a vivid tale of music as well as characters met, played with and lost along the way (”Sister Lost Soul” and “Sensitive Boys”). The punk-infused track “Real as an Animal” is an homage to Stooges’ front man Iggy Pop — one of the many influential artists that hit home with Escovedo — while “Golden Bear”, a song named after a local music club in Huntington Beach, CA where Escovedo spent his teen years, has a haunting and melodic reference to his near-death battle with Hepatitis-C.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Dance My Pain Away - Rod Lee - The Wire...and all the pieces matter
2. Brandy Alexander - Feist - The Reminder
3. Friend of Mine - Lily Allen - Alright, Still
4. Turkish Song Of The Damned - The Pogues - The Definitive Collection
5. Greenville - Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams - Emmylou Harris Duets
6. Over You Again - Willie Nelson - Moment Of Forever
7. Terry's Song - Bruce Springsteen - Magic
8. The House Of The Rising Sun - Nina Simone - The Very Best Of Volume 2
9. Joy - Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
10. Broken Butterflies - Lucinda Williams - Essence

I can't believe that I resumed blogging for several months now without mentioning the greatest show in the history of television, The Wire, which came to an end this spring. The soundtrack of The Wire is as notable for including favorites snippets of dialog on the show as it is for the music. I'm sure I'll write more about The Wire in the future, but in the meantime I would commend this reflection on the show that was published at the great TV/Movie blog The House Next Door. Some of the best popular culture criticism out there can be found on this blog. This particular article talks about what The Wire might mean for the future of visual story-telling.

...Simon and his collaborators have hoisted the medium of film onto their backs and marched it into the territory previously inhabited by Tolstoy, Melville and Dickens, the greatest of the long-form storytellers.

The achievements of The Wire suggest that the two-hour American-standard-length film only scratches the surface of what the medium can actually do. And it does so with none of the diluting effect that some might expect would come from breaking up a 13-hour film into individual episodes. The experience of watching The Wire is precisely the same as reading Anna Karenina. We do it by sandwiching its chapters in between the chapters of our own lives. We read a chunk, we live a chunk, and each enriches the other.

I've long thought that the best movies were comparable to short fiction, but it required a television show to accomplish the things that a novel can do. The Wire is exhibit A that great television indeed is comparable to the novel. (Others that have done this were also on HBO, like The Sopranos and Deadwood) David Simon, the creative force behind The Wire, used one plotlines in the last season to tease the critics who compared his show to the work of Dickens, but the comparison is apt.

Live Music

Brooks Williams is an incredible acoustic guitarist. I've seen him live a couple of times and have always been blown away. Since he is based in New England and I have not been able to go to one of his concerts in over a decade, I wondered if I'd be able to see him the first weekend in May when I go to New Hampshire (to see my nephew) So I headed over his website a few days ago to see if he was playing anywhere that weekend. The good news is that he is performing on Friday, May 2. The bad news is that he is playing in Lawrence, Kansas, just 30 miles away from where I live, but 1445 miles from where I will be that night. Damn!

The night before, May 1, Steve Earle will be in Lawrence, but that would be a late night right before an early flight. I'll have to think about that one.

There are a couple of shows this summer that have peaked my interest. Both Alejandro Escovedo and Emmylou Harris are playing at the Wakarusa Festival (in Lawrence) this June. I've never seen Emmylou live, but Alejandro performed the most transcendent live concert I have ever seen a couple of years ago at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle. He was with a five piece rock band plus a string quartet. This video is from a few weeks ago during SXSW.



The more acoustic side of Alejandro can heard here or here.

Feist will also be in the Midwest this summer. She's doing a free concert in Omaha on Saturday, July 12 and then will be at Starlight in Kansas City on the 13th. I imagine it would be a better musical experience in Kansas City (and with the price of gas it wouldn't be any more expensive than a road trip to Omaha) but I have a cousin who lives in Omaha. It would be fun to hang out up there. I don't know anything about Sarah's taste in music, but a free concert is a free concert.

I really need to learn more about local musicians in Kansas City. I've been hankerin' for some live music, but I don't know enough about whose worth seeing around here.

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams is a great musical friend to have while going through a divorce. She has songs that fit many of the different and conflicting emotions that swirl about in those times. If you are not familiar with Williams, click on the names of some of the songs I list. It will take you to Last.fm where you can stream, in most cases, the entire song. She is a very bluesy alt-country singer songwriter who has a very sultry voice. (The Editor - everyone knows you have unusual taste in vocalists, so why should anyone pay attention to a description like that from you? I don't know, but speaking of my unusual taste in vocalists, I recently imported out an old Iris Dement album into iTunes - I love her voice!)

Lucinda's catalog includes the bitter and angry songs, like Joy (I don't want you anymore, cause you took my joy. I don't want you anymore, you took my joy. You took my joy, I want it back. You took my joy, I want it back!) and Wrap My Head Around That.

There's the painful songs, like Everything Has Changed, Still I Long For Your Kiss, and Can't Let Go. There are songs like Reason to Cry that are about trying to understand your ex.

She has a song that for a long time I thought fit with the angry songs, Changed the Lock, but now I'm not so sure. I metaphorically did a lot of the things in that song, not from a place of anger but from the need to move on (both in a practical sense and in an emotional sense)

I changed the lock on my front door so you can't see me anymore
And you can't come inside my house, and you can't lie down on my couch
I changed the lock on my front door

I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home
And you can't say those things to me that make me fall down on my knees
I changed the number on my phone

I changed the kind of car I drive so you can't see me when I go by
And you can't chase me up the street, and you can't knock me off of my feet
I changed the kind of car I drive

I changed the kind of clothes I wear so you can't see me anywhere
And you can't spot me in a crowd, and you can't call my name out loud
I changed the kind of clothes I wear

I changed the tracks underneath the train so you can't find me again
And you can't trace my path, and you can't hear my laugh
I changed the tracks underneath the train

I changed the name of this town so you can't follow me down
And you can't touch me like before, and you can't make me want you more
I changed the name of this town

There's the song that I wanted to hear a friend sing to me during the painful times, Are You Alright? I was blessed to have a couple of friends who did express the sentiment of this song to me on a frequent basis last summer. Thanks Dave and Audrey!

There's a song that perfectly expresses what I image the meeting would be like if I ran into my ex in a grocery store or at a bar, Out of Touch.

One in particular that I listened to a lot was Learning How to Live, which is about realizing the need most to the next part of your life even before you are really able to start.

And then there is the song I listened to tonight, while walking Leo, which started me down this path of thinking about Lucinda Williams. Unsuffer Me is about getting to the place when you realize that you are not obsessing about your ex all the time. You might have noticed that it has been days since you even thought about her at all. You realize that what you miss is not exactly your ex, but rather you miss being connected to another person. You miss intimacy, but not necessarily intimacy with your her.

...unsuffer me
take away the pain
unbruise, unbloody
wash away the stain

surround my heartbeat
with your fingertips
unbound my feet
untie my wrists

come into my world
of loneliness
and wickedness
and bitterness
anoint my head
with your sweet kiss
my joy is dead
I long for bliss

I long for knowledge
whisper in my ear
undo my logic, undo my fear
unsuffer me

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Gravedigger - Willie Nelson - Moment Of Forever
2. Mi coraz - Gipsy Kings - The Very Best Of The Gipsy Kings II
3. It Be's That Way Sometimes - Nina Simone - The Very Best Of Volume 2
4. Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu) - Gipsy Kings -Mosaique
5. Are You Alright? - Lucinda Williams - West
6. Allegria (Instrumental) (Live) - Gipsy Kings - The Very Best Of The Gipsy Kings I
7. How My Heart Behaves - Feist - The Reminder
8. Right In Time (WXPN Live At The World Cafe) - Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
9. Everywhere I Go - Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris & Daniel Lanois - Teatro
10. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah - The Pogues - The Definitive Collection

At work, we listen to Sirius Satellite Radio, and they have been playing Willie Nelson's cover of Dave Matthew's Gravedigger quite a bit the last few months. Despite being a big fan of Johnny Cash, I never really got into Willie Nelson. Gravedigger, though, grabbed my attention. I just picked up Nelson's most recent album, "Moment of Forever," this week. It's a bit uneven, but the good songs are really good. Nelson's voice seems to have gained depth with age (he's 74). I always remembered it as being a bit reedy or nasally, but it's not like that here. Nelson only wrote 3 of the songs of this album, but two of them are among my favorites here, Over You Again and Always Now. If you have never paid much attention to Willie Nelson before, it might be worthwhile for you to give this one a listen.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Let Me Down Easy - Chris Isaak - Best Of
2. Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing - Chris Isaak - Best Of
3. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak - Best Of
4. Somebody's Crying - Chris Isaak - Best Of
5. San Francisco Days - Chris Isaak - Best Of
6. One Evening - Feist - One Evening
   
7. I Got The Rest Of My Life - John Austin - Byzantium
8. I Changed the Lock [Take 1] - Johnny Cash - American Outakes
9. 100 Days, 100 Nights - Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
10. A Night In Tunisia - Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song
    

You can see I just bought the Best of Chris Isaak. And that 1996 John Austin album, Byzantium, is amazing. It was just re-issued and is only available, as far as I know, as a digital download. You can find it on Amazon. Here's what Austin wrote about the band that backed that album on his website.

Those of us who worked on the record have always thought of it as a little gem that never quite had it's moment in the spotlight. Interestingly, many of the players for the Byzantium sessions went on and up to bigger things. Travis McNabb joined Better Than Ezra, bassist David Labruyere went on to help John Mayer form his band, Kristian Bush went country with Sugarland, Marty Kearns joined Shawn Mullins' band for a time, Randall Bramblett plays with Steve Winwood's band, engineer Don McCollister went on to produce Grammy winners, and engineer Glenn Matullo made a big splash with Shawn Mullins, and has since worked with Indigo Girls, Collective Soul, John Mayer, Outkast, Pink and Collective Soul, to name a few.

Every song on Byzantium is a little gem. I probably listen to it more than any other album I bought during my college years.

10 Most Recently Played in my itunes

1. In Your Mind - Johnny Cash - Dead Man Walking (Music from and Inspired By the Motion Picture)
2. Angel From Montgomery - Bonnie Raitt W/ John Prine - Bonnie Raitt Collection
3. I Changed the Lock [Take 1] - Johnny Cash - American Outakes
4. Certain Slant Of Light - Vigilantes Of Love - Blister Soul
5. Once - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once (Music from the Motion Picture)
6. All Because of you - U2 - How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
7. City of Blinding Lights - U2 - How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
8. Me & Mr. Jones - Amy Winehouse - Back To Black Ltd. Ed. Reissue
9. Van Diemen's Land - U2 - Rattle And Hum
10. Supply And Demand - Amos Lee - Supply And Demand