I listened to the intoxicating music of Jon Swift for the first time this morning. To the 11 songs on his 2003 release Coming & Going.
On CD Baby the album is decribed as, “delicately orchestrated compositions of guitar, bass, percussion, harmonica and piano stemming from bare, lyrically driven spirituals disguised as folk songs.”
Like Jack Johnson, Swift is a surfer living in Hawaii who plays acoustic guitar and writes his own material. The Google doesn’t have a lot of info on him, he’s made zero blog posts on MySpace and his site is “under construction.” So, let’s just listen to his music, shall we?
B Getz of Jambase was where I wasn’t, catching the sickest of the sick. Reading his account is actually painful to me, in a longing kind of way.
It is hard to believe that it has been five years since the mammoth Gov’t Mule “Deepest End” concert at Jazz Fest 2003, and it has become an annual Mule celebration of sorts when the boys hit Jazz Fest. This year saw numerous guests join the band on both Friday and Saturday nights at the Contemporary Arts Center. Mike Gordon teamed up with Particle’s Steve Molitz for a huge “Loser” > Terrapin Station Jam > Loser” sandwich during Friday’s second set. Umphrey’s Jake Cinninger got a head start on his own late night festivities by joining in on “Dear Prudence.” New Orleans got in on the fun when the Dirty Dozen Brass Band appeared, as did Henry Butler and Roosevelt Collier. Opener Grace Potter helped on covers of Ike & Tina’s “Nutbush City Limits” and Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington, Ivan Neville and Papa Mali got in on the act, too, and Cyril Neville closed out the numerous sit-ins on night one.
The second night of the Mule was just as electrifying, as the parade of guests and stellar playing continued. George Porter Jr. and Ivan Neville joined the band for several songs including “Fortunate Son.” Owen Biddle and Capt. Kirk Douglas of the legendary Roots crew, fresh off their blistering Fairgrounds performance (with Ludacris!), got their Zeppelin on with “When the Levee Breaks” (a poignant song choice in these parts). Sonny Landreth, Eric McFadden and Grace Potter got involved as well. The second set on Saturday night was one of those legendary NOLA Mule sets, beginning with “Africa” featuring Cyrille and Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno and Stanton Moore. Henry Butler, as well as Kofi Burbridge, amongst others, also made their way into the Mule stew. Appropriately, it was the core four Mule brethren onstage for the final number, the quintessential “Soulshine.” Not enough can ever be said for the beauty, integrity and sheer eloquence that Warren Haynes, Danny Louis, Andy Hess and Matt Abts bring to a NOLA stage.
Thankfully, both nights are available on Mule Tracks. Check out the set list from night one:
DISC ONE:
1. Smokestack Lightning w/ John Butler
2. Wandering Child
3. Dear Prudence w/ Jake Cinninger
4. That’s What Love Will Make You Do w/ Henry Butler & Rosevelt Collier
5. Perfect Shelter
6. Spanish Moon w/ Dirty Dozen Brass Band & DJ Logic
7. Death Don’t Have No Mercy w/ Dirty Dozen Brass Band & DJ Logic
8. Brighter Days
DISC TWO:
1. Child of The Earth
2. Grinnin’ In Your Face w/ Ruthie Foster
3. Million Miles From Yesterday w/ Ruthie Foster
4. Nutbush City Limits w/ Grace Potter & Scott Tournet
5. Whole Lotta Love w/ Grace Potter & Scott Tournet
6. Ain’t No Love In The Heart of The City w/ Walter Wolfman Washington
7. Streamline Woman
8. Brand New Angel
9. Loser> w/ Mike Gordon & Steve Molitz
10. Terrapin Station Jam> w/ Mike Gordon & Steve Molitz
11. Loser w/ Mike Gordon & Steve Molitz
12. I’m A Ram
DISC THREE:
1. Unblow Your Horn/Reblow Your Mind w/ Cyril Neville
2. I Walk on Guilded Splinters w/ Papa Mali, Ian Neville & Cyril Neville
3. Fortune Teller w/ Cyril Neville & Papa Mali
4. Larger Than Life
5. Sco-Mule w/ Tim Greene
6. Guilded Intro> w/ Tim Greene
7. Mule w/ Tim Greene
Not bad for a college town of 110,000, prompting more than a few music industry insiders to call Denton the next Austin.
“There’s this combination of artistic fervor and small town naiveté said David Sims, a music columnist for The Dallas Observer. “Artists here don’t know they’re not supposed to be Bob Dylan so when they start a band, they shoot for the moon.”
The more I hear about this place, the more I want to hop on a plane to Dallas and experience it first hand. When I do go, I hope Dan’s Silver Leaf is in full swing.
The hub of Denton’s unplugged music scene is now Dan’s Silver Leaf, a colorful dive bar in a former radiator repair shop decorated with Texas longhorn skulls. On a breezy Saturday night last March, the bar was packed with 20-somethings with straggly beards, ponytails and vintage T-shirts. They sat in stone silence as Sarah Jaffe, a 22-year-old transplant from Dallas, belted out a heartfelt ballad reminiscent of Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah.” Local music watchers were already calling her the town’s next Norah Jones.
“People get kind of jaded because we literally have some of the best musicians in the world play here,” said Dan Mojica, the club’s silver-haired owner, who was holding court at his usual spot at the backyard bar. “We’ve set the standard so high that locals are expecting that all the time.”
MP3 Offering: “The Man in Me” by Matthew and the Arrogant Sea
I came across Robert “Wolfman” Belfour earlier this week and I love his story. He grew up in North Mississippi’s hill country, so blues is in his soul, but he never had a music career until he started playing on the streets in Memphis.
His father died when Belfour was 13, and his music was relegated to what little free time he had, as his energy went to helping his mother provide for the family. In 1959, he married Noreen Norman and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he would work in construction for the next 35 years.
In the 1980s Belfour began playing on Beale Street and in 1994 he had eight songs featured on the compilation album, The Spirit Lives On, Deep South Country Blues and Spirituals in the 1990s. This led him to Fat Possum Records and his first album What’s Wrong With You, which was released in 2000 when Belfour was 60.
His 2003 release Pushin’ My Luck is now in my listening rotation (it’s available on iTunes). Here’s track two from that record, “Breaking My Heart,” courtesy of the label.
I took note of Adam Carroll’s music recently, after Hayes Carll mentioned the San Carlos singer-songwriter.
Carroll has a new record coming out this month. It can be downloaded in advance of it’s release at Lone Star Music. Lone Star also offers an interview with Carroll where even more leads to new musicians are given–this time to Fred Eaglesmith, Scott Nolan, Mark Jungers and Roger Marin.
Q. Your new record, Old Town Rock & Roll, is your first one without Lloyd Maines producing. Were you looking for a new sound?
A. I’ve been doing some touring with some Canadian friends that I met through Hayes Carll by way of the Fred Eaglesmith crowd two of which are Roger Marin and Scott Nolan.
Scott is one of those guys I’ve been lucky enough to get to know over the past year or so- He writes great songs one of which is called “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart” which is on the new Hayes record.
We were playing at Roger Marin’s festival up in Canada and we started talking about doing a record together. The idea was really exciting to me because Scott is very dynamic and engaging as a person and performer and I just had a feeling that we could do a great record. When I got back home i was so looking forward to the chance to work with Scott that I finished a bunch of half written songs that I had lying around plus a few new ones and we went to Mark Jungers’ house and started recording. I had written a lot of songs over at Mark’s and I knew that it would be the perfect place to record, (it’s) really laid back, comfortable and creative.
We all treated my record as an experiment that we could walk away from if it didn’t work but I think we all knew right away that it was going to be good.
Nolan wrote “Bad Livers and Broken Hearts,” which appears on Hayes Carll’s new album.
Scott Avett is a talented individual. He’s known for his work with The Avett Brothers, but he’s also an accomplished painter.
According to his web site, Scott is also active in illustration, printmaking, and sculpture (in addition to his songwriting, recording and performing duties).
Captain Obvious had a chance to speak with Scott last week, before the band’s Friday night Merlefest appearance.
Obvious: You guys have really picked up a lot of steam as of late, playing Late Night with Conan O’Brien last year and having “If It’s The Beaches” played on the NBC series “Friday Night Lights.” Are you surprised by the success?
Scott: None of our accomplishments have made us champions but we are extremely thankful and honored by the recognition. Since day one we have promised to carry ourselves proudly no matter the rate of “success” that comes our way. Success, for us, is to maintain that integrity and that attitude and nothing can touch us… but, surprised to find yourself on the Grand Ole Opry or Conan O’Brien, no doubt about it.
I recently came across the work of Jeremy Lyons & The Deltabilly Boys. Given that Lyons in playing dba, one of my favorite bars in New Orleans this afternoon at 4:00 p.m., it seems like a good time to mention him.
According to his MySpace, he moved to Cambridge, MA in 2005. I’m thinking it must be nice for Lyons to be back in the Crescent City this week during Jazz Fest. It’s surely a good thing for his fans.
We’re just back from our first Merlefest and there’s much to share.
Let’s begin with the bands we were able to see perform.
Saturday
Levon Helm Band
Ollabelle
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder with Bruce Hornsby
Hot Buttered Rum
Bearfoot
Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven
Donna the Buffalo with Jim Lauderdale and Tim O’Brien
Friday
The Avett Brothers
Peter Rowan + Tony Rice
Sam Bush Band
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Donna the Buffalo
The Infamous Stringdusters with Tim O’Brien
Ralph Stanley & Clinch Mountain Boys
What a lineup. Donna the Buffalo with Jim Lauderdale and Tim O’Brien on the Hillside Stage on Saturday was the best set of the bunch. But seeing Ollabelle for the first time was a treat. Ollabelle, featuring Amy Helm, played the Cabin Stage just prior to her father Levon Helm’s set. The music coming from this “tweener” stage was special, and not just because Ollabelle played “Ripple” and “Brokedown Palace.” This is a band to learn much more about.
I also enjoyed seeing Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven (from David Grisman Quintet). This quintet-for-the-day pushed bluegrass into an experimental place and I like when that happens. It’s interesting to note that Brown runs Compass Records in Nashville, which ain’t no big thang for a Harvard- and UCLA Business School-educated banjo picker.
Levon Helm opened up his headling Saturday night set with “Ophelia,” and right there, the price of admission was pretty much covered. He had a lot of energy and attacked his kit, putting some rock and roll on the plates of the traditionalists still gathered (many scooted out after Ricky Skaggs).
Merlefest is a great time in a beautiful foothills setting, but I’d be negligent in my duties if I failed to mention there is no beer, wine or booze available inside the festival grounds (and I never smelled even the faintest whiff of pot). It’s a sit down affair popular with lots of middle aged church going folk. You might say there’s the Ralph Stanley and Doc Watson faction of traditional music lovers and then there’s a new school element, on stage and in the audience. (I know some people were shaking their heads at The Avett Brothers, but hey, they play acoustic instruments.) At any rate, everyone seems to get along fine but it’s not an equal mix of hula hooping acoustic freaks and traditionalists. The old school has numbers at Merlefest.
UC Santa Cruz, long a home to eccentric individuals, is now officially the most Dead-friendly university in the land.
According to The Wall Street Journal (no irony there), surviving members of Grateful Dead have decided to give the group’s archives to the university library in Santa Cruz, Calif., which some Silicon Valley executives hope to help turn into a mecca for scholars and the band’s fans.
The trove, to be transferred to the University of California at Santa Cruz, includes photos, artwork, press clippings, posters, letters, backstage passes and other documents assembled by the band over 30 years, as well as memorabilia sent to the group by fans. It doesn’t include the Dead’s huge vault of live recordings, which still spawn new releases and generate revenue.
Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley investor and musician, and Bill Watkins, chief executive of Seagate Technology and a longtime Deadhead, are expected to join a committee to oversee the project, which is likely to require considerable fund-raising.
