2. Have One On Me - Joanna Newsom [2010]

Ladies and gentlemen, 2010's songwriter nonpareil. An embarrassment of riches over three CDs. Nary a smidgeon of padding in this plush divan.

The Kate Bush comparisons seem increasingly bang on...in a good way. Though the smart-arse citation is disreputable uncle, Roy Harper.

C'mon, you need this in your life.

Oddi wrth y brawd

10. Can The Circle Be Unbroken - The Carter Family

Antediluvian weird.

Voice-Guitar-Autoharp alchymical. 

Facile, immediate and ancient. 

Mind how you go, and keep on the sunny side.

Oddi wrth y brawd

12. War War War - Country Joe McDonald [1971]

Thinking of Woody Guthrie, Tonight I'm Singing Just For You, Hold On It's Coming, Paris Sessions. Early 70s Country Joe is good Country Joe, and partial to a concept.

From this period comes War War War based on poems of Robert W. Service, "bard of the Yukon" (1874 - 1958). Service served with an ambulance crew in World War I and his poetry deals with duty and sacrifice as much as waste and futility. 

Yet may it not be, crime and war

But efforts misdirected are.

And if there's good in war and crime

There may be in my bits of rhyme,

My songs from out the slaughter mill:

So take or leave them as you will.

Room for ambiguity gives egress to Country Joe whose commitment to supporting Vietnam veterans is unwavering. Blaming soldiers for war is like blaming firefighters for fire.

So you'll live, you'll live, Young Fellow My Lad,

In the gleam of the evening star,

In the wood-note wild and the laugh of the child,

In all sweet things that are.

And you'll never die, my wonderful boy

While life is noble and true:

For all our beauty and hope and joy

We will owe to our lads like you.

All lyric poetry and more at Country Joe's Place.

Oddi wrth y brawd

Elvis Country - Elvis Presley [1971]

Because, after all, we all live in Elvis country.

Oddi wrth y brawd

It's A Mean Old World To Try To Live In- Reverend Pearly Brown [1975]

Dig the soulful voice and lucid guitar of very right Reverend Pearly Brown. Blind street singer n preacher with religious repertoire spiritual, holy blues, gospel n slave song. Stunning.

Oddi wrth y brawd
nothin' but joy

Eight-Hand Sets and Holy Steps - Various [1978]

Top drawer proto-country blues, string band and sacred music, sampling North Carolina Afro-American tradition mid 1800s - early 1900s. Dance tunes n ballads played on guitar, banjo, fiddle, harmonica (and bones...). Spirituals by congregation, singing group, n individual to guitar / harmonica accompaniment. Recorded in 70s by NC musicians steeped in tradition. Sparkling lodestar mainline to authentic US heritage. Don't you dare miss it.

01 Wildwood Blues Speak - James "Guitar Slim" Stephens (vocal)
02 Corinna - Elizabeth "Babe" Reid (banjo), and James Borders (bones)
03 Georgia Buck - Joe and Odell Thompson (fiddle and banjo)
04 Breakaway - Roosevelt May (vocal and harmonica)
05 John Henry - Cora Phillips and Elizabeth "Babe" Reid (guitar and banjo)
06 Going Downtown - Joe and Odell Thompson (fiddle and banjo)
07 Buckdance - Algia Mae Hinton (guitar)
08 Chicken - Percy Lassiter (vocal and guitar)
09 Out on the Farm - Elester Anderson (vocal and guitar) 
10 Honeybabe - Algia Mae Hinton (vocal and guitar) 
11 Boll Weevil - Percy Lassiter (vocal and guitar) 
12 Chicken, Lord, Lord - Algia Mae Hinton (vocal and guitar) 
13 When You See Me Praying - Second St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church
14 Lord, What Shall I Do - Thomas Burt, vocal and guitar
15 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Roosevelt May, vocal and harmonica
16 Your Close Friend - James "Guitar Slim" Stephens (vocal and guitar) 
17 Death is Coming Back After You - Rev. Rassie Moore (vocal and guitar) 
18 Satan, We're Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down - Second St. Paul Junior Choir
19 Sweet Home - Algia Mae Hinton (vocal and guitar)
20 Traveling Shoes - The Badgett Sisters

21 Joshua - The Gospel Jubilators

Oddi wrth y brawd

going downtown

The American Dreamer OST - Various [1971]

01 Gene Clark: American Dreamer
02 Hello People: Pass Me By
03 John Manning: Whole Song
04 Gene Clark: Outlaw Song
05 Chris Sikelianos: Easy Rider, 1970
06 John Buck Wilkin: The Screaming Metaphysical Blues
07 John Manning: Hard Road To New Mexico
08 John Buck Wilkin: Look At Me, Mama
09 John Buck Wilkin: Sun, Moon, And Stars
10 Abbey Road Singers: Other Side Of This Life

During post-production for The Last Movie, Hopper wanders the desert around his Taos, New Mexico home, wasted n waxing philosophical. Acoustic soundtrack a shining nugget in the rough. Yippiee!

Oddi wrth y brawd

Or don't cowboys have fantasies?

The Hanged Man - Ralph White [2011]

Not a million miles from Jerry Garcia's twilight fountainhead Americana excursions, Ralph White home-spins  old weird folk, proto-blues and country into psycho-meditative textures. High-lonesome drawl wavering around the melody (Jerry again), Dock Boggs banjo drone, fiddle, button accordion and - wahey - African kalimba. Edition of 100 copies. Ralph's version of Harder They Come an especial treat.

Check http://ralphewhite.com/

Oddi wrth y brawd

gallows medley

The Weed Tree ep - Espers [2005]

Expanded to sextet, nucleus Greg Weeks, Meg Baird, and Brooke Sietinsons enter string n wind thickets of guitar, cello, recorder n miscellaneous tonal embellishments invariably veering towards the melancholic. Placid surfaces belie discontent: loss, unrequited love, isolation and similarly disgruntled emotions from traditional folk canon. Selections from folk standards bear out the romantic misery - Rosemary Lane (farewell Bert Jansch), Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair - as do covers predictable - Nico's Afraid; Michael Hurley's Blue Mountain (top-notch) - and miscreant - Durutti Column and Blue Öyster Cult. Flaming Telepaths, BÖC's heavy paean to heroin exigencies is slowed down to narcotised stupor as Weeks wields arc-weld axe. Heavy indeed.

Oddi wrth y brawd

dead king

Christ Was Born On Christmas Morn - Various [1971]

Effluvium prophylactic. Join Blind Willie McTell, Blind Mamie Forehand, Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers (featuring Frankie Half-Pint Jaxon - naturally) in dispelling rising tide of noisome yule pap.

Oddi wrth y brawd

aint it grand to be a christian

The Road Goes On Forever - The Highwaymen [1995]

Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings.

Oddi wrth y brawd

so what's it to you?

A Moment of Forever - Kris Kristofferson [1995]

Free, twinkling-eyed spirit. Human, humane n holy. Still wild enough for you.

Oddi wrth y brawd

under the gun

Leaves From Off The Tree - Meg Baird, Helena Espvall and Sharron Kraus [2006]

Espers'  Meg n Helena team up with Sharron Kraus for front porch drink n laughter session. Expect spontaneity, heart and sounds outside time.  

Oddi wrth y brawd

not so silly sisters

Live at the Sixth and I Synagogue March 23 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Between song banter alone enough to smite low cynics n clowns. And enough never enough with JN.


Oddi wrth y brawd
you and me bess

Jana Hunter / Devendra Banhart [2005]

One of Devendra Banhart's more endearing gestures, tireless boosting of talent old and new. This vinyl-only split LP a case in point: five from DB and five from Hunter. Banhart's contributions a welcome Nino Rojo. They be warmer, humaner and less waywardly florid. Jana's side o't'coin all homegrown lo-fi grainy overdubbed vocals, guitar and handclaps. Both of a piece: rich and welcoming.

 

1. Black Haven
2. A Bright-Ass Light
3. Crystal Lariat
4. That Dragon Is My Husband
5. Laughing & Crying
6. At The Hop
7. In Golden Empress Hands
8. We All Know
9. The Good Red Road
10. Little Monkey / Step In The Name Of Love

Oddi wrth y brawd

y'all know

The Great Roy Acuff [1964]

Erstwhile King of Country Music and Grand Vizier of Grand Ole Opry. Roy inherited Jimmie Rodgers' mantle as numero uno country music star. Pioneering stylist and inspiration for the immortals: Hank Williams and George Jones. Collection herein a reissue of Capitol recordings 1953-1955.


(Not one for cowboy hats neither - fair play)


Oddi wrth y brawd
don't judge your neighbor

Self-Portrait Rebooted - Bob Dylan [2011]

"What is this shit?" Thusly opined ye holey Greil. Time in and out of mind, the reaction was to be expected. An unbroken string of cultural paradigm pushing masterpieces and then....inept, shallow hodge podge: session out-takes, lame live performance, numbingly dire cover versions (take a bow The Boxer and Blue Moon). Double album! Critics, mainly critics let it be noted, were aghast n appalled. 


Erase Self Portrait from history. Wind forward 40 years and imagine, if you will, latest Columbia Records release Bootleg Series Vol. 0. A single disc showcasing 13 unearthed cuts from Dylan's notoriously fallow Nashville Skyline - New Morning interregnum. Prime proto-Americana: glowing string arrangements; female backing singers ten years before ubiquitous gospel backline wailers; instrumentals before official light of day on Pat Garrett soundtrack; front porch old-timey vibes prefiguring Theme Time Radio Hour by almost half a century. Suddenly, the Johnny Cash duets make perfect sense. Ye critics collectively poop thems drawers n nay mistake; the Greilster's fundamental question legitimised.


Laddies n Genlmen, Self Portrait Rebooted.



01 All The Tired Horses
02 Copper Kettle (The Pale Moonlight)
03 Early Mornin' Rain
04 Let It Be Me
05 Belle Isle
06 Take A Message To Mary
07 Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)
08 I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
09 It Hurts Me Too
10 Minstrel Boy
11 Alberta #2
12 Gotta Travel On
13 Wigwam


Oddi wrth y brawd
let it roll

Have One On Me - Joanna Newsom [2010]

Ladies and gentlemen, 2010's songwriter nonpareil. Embarrassment of riches over three CDs. Plush divan and nary an ounce of padding.


C'mon, you need this in your life.

Oddi wrth y brawd
1
2
3

Cool Water - Sons of the Pioneers [1959]

The music of the West was born for a purpose, and I'm sure that the Sons of the Pioneers were born to sing it. This collection of favorite Western songs, headed by their greatest hit Cool Water, will go down in the heart of America as a living tribute to the land of the West that is loved the world over for its music and heritage. It will also go down in the heart of this old cowboy as "The Greatest Western Album Ever Recorded" and nothing could give me more pleasure than to mark it with my OK brand.

Sincerely,

              Yellowstone Chips

                             (Montana's Singin' Cowboy)

The Dude, in his own personal way, he is a pioneer too.

Oddi wrth y brawd

y cowboi cymraeg

A Tree With Roots ~ The Original Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan

Penblwydd Hapus Bob!

Oddi wrth y brawd

King

Queen

Jack

Ace