In what stands as a major global music relief effort to benefit those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, over 30 of the biggest names in contemporary music have joined together for the worldwide release of "Songs for Japan," an unprecedented compilation of 38 chart-topping hits and classic tracks, available worldwide on the iTunes Store for $9.99 starting today (www.itunes.com/songsforjapan). Proceeds from the album's sale will benefit the disaster relief efforts of the Japanese Red Cross Society.
The "Songs for Japan" track listing features an all-star lineup: 1. John Lennon "Imagine" (Remastered) 2. U2 "Walk On" (Radio Edit) 3. Bob Dylan "Shelter From The Storm" 4. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Around The World" (Live) 5. Lady Gaga "Born This Way" (Starsmith Remix) 6. Beyonce "Irreplaceable" 7. Bruno Mars "Talking To The Moon" (Acoustic Piano Version) 8. Katy Perry "Firework" 9. Rihanna "Only Girl (In The World)" 10. Justin Timberlake "Like I Love You" 11. Madonna "Miles Away" (Live) 12. David Guetta "When Love Takes Over" (feat. Kelly Rowland) 13. Eminem "Love The Way You Lie" (feat. Rihanna) [Clean Version} 14. Bruce Springsteen "Human Touch" 15. Josh Groban "Awake" (Live) 16. Keith Urban "Better Life" 17. Black Eyed Peas "One Tribe" 18. Pink "Sober" 19. Cee Lo Green "It's Ok" 20. Lady Antebellum "I Run To You" 21. Bon Jovi "What Do You Got?" 22. Foo Fighters "My Hero" 23. R.E.M. "Man On The Moon" 24. Nicki Minaj "Save Me" (Clean Version) 25. Sade "By Your Side" 26. Michael Buble "Hold On" (Radio Mix) 27. Justin Bieber "Pray" (Acoustic) 28. Adele "Make You Feel My Love" 29. Enya "If I Could Be Where You Are" 30. Elton John "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" 31. John Mayer "Waiting On The World To Change" 32. Queen "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" [Remastered] 33. Kings Of Leon "Use Somebody" 34. Sting "Fragile" (Live In Berlin) 35. Leona Lewis "Better In Time" 36. Ne-Yo "One In A Million" 37. Shakira "Whenever, Wherever" 38. Norah Jones "Sunrise"
Proceeds from "Songs for Japan" will be directed to the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) to support its disaster relief efforts. The society will use the funds for the ongoing provision of immediate relief and for eventual recovery support to the affected population. The artists participating on "Songs for Japan," the music labels and music publishers have waived their royalties and proceeds from the worldwide sales of the album to ensure that the JRCS receives as much support as possible from this global initiative. iTunes will also donate its proceeds from the album's worldwide sales to the benefit of the JRCS, and has prominently featured the project throughout its stores worldwide.
There is a campfire in the White Mountains of Arkansas. The sun is going down and a cool breeze comes up from the west. The sky turns hues of red and purple as the day ends and twilight begins. Couples huddle around the fire, drinks in hand, as the evening winds down. Joe Purdy pulls out his six-string, puts on a harmonica holder and sits down with the gathered campers.
He sings and plays fifteen passionate, contemplative, folk songs that reach into the soul. Purdy is a modern day early 1960’s Bob Dylan with a better voice and as much to say. He is a singing, songwriting, acoustic guitarist who also plays harmonica, with which he weaves tale after tale in the flickering shadow of firelight on “This American.”
Joe has played electric, rock, and with a band, He has toured Europe and has sold an incredible number of downloads. His music has been used in TV shows and movies. But here, on “This American,” Purdy gently sings stories about the American experience. He treks the Oregon Trail, goes to Louisana, is a Pioneer and visits the Dustbowl. Purdy captures the soul and mood of a people, teaches lessons about history, love and honesty, and regales us from the heart.
It is a difficult thing to do to play and record only your voice and your music, unprocessed - just, you, your acoustic guitar and your harmonica. There is no drummer, no bassist, no click track. To successfully solo is the sign of the true balladeer and that is what Purdy is - a modern day troubadour. When I listen to the album I feel the heat of the fire, the chill of the evening and see the veiled images evoked by the storyteller. I am calmed, transfixed and warmed.
You can hear the entire album on Purdy’s website. Better yet, you can go there and buy “The American” as a digital download, CD or, soon, on vinyl with a digital download. Then, turn on the fireplace, grab a blanket and transport yourself into the midst of the great American camping trip. Let Purdy pull out his old Gibson, put on a harmonica holder and sing to you about “This American.”
That’s a hard word for many individuals to swallow and live up to, especially in the music industry. Recently I was hanging out with some writers and musicians when the topic of music came up in our conversation. During this time, we argued back and forth over our favorite music of the year for several hours. It was intense, but very entertaining to say the least. Luckily one good topic came up- Conor Oberst’s music.
For those not familiar with Conor Oberst, you are truly missing out. Over the past 15 years, Oberst has formed Bright Eyes, worked on side projects like the supergroup Monsters of Folk and has been a solo artist. Being compared to an icon and living legend like Bob Dylan is a hard thing to endure over one’s musical career, but somehow he has always embraced the moniker.
Connor Oberst is my generation’s “Dylan” and continues to make magnificent music. In February, Bright Eyes will be releasing their new album, “The People’s Key” and I decided to revisit one of my favorite solo albums of the past five years. I first started listening to Bright Eyes at the behest of one of my best friends. I was immediately intrigued by the lead singer and lyrics. From that moment on I have been an admirer of Conor Oberst’s work. Whether it’s Bright Eyes, solo projects, The Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk, or guest collaborations, Conor Oberst has remained at the top of his game.
Recently I started listening to Oberst’s self-titled “debut” album, which came out after over a decade in the music business. It’s always interesting when a well-established artist releases an eponymous album because it usually leaves a bitter taste for certain fans. To be perfectly honest, it really doesn’t matter as long as the content is good. I have not been disappointed once by Oberst. Prior to its release, Conor was named the top “Songwriter of 2008” by Rolling Stone. The album was produced and recorded in Tepoztlán, Mexico, with his new band dubbed the Mystic Valley Band. This soulful songwriter solidified his career with a very grownup album.
The album opens up with the infectious “Cape Canaveral” that is a throwback to late 1960s folk music. The gentle acoustic guitar strumming accompanied by Oberst’s sweet, soft voice catapults this song into tranquility. From the moment the song starts “Oh oh oh brother totem pole/ I saw your legends lined up/ And I never felt more natural/ A Part/ I just came apart,” Oberst has you hooked.
Camping never sounded so good with “Sausalito” and we finally hear the Mystic Valley Band in the background. "Get-Well-Cards" feels and sounds like a Dylan song from the Blonde On Blonde-era. With perfect pacing and pitch, the melody pulls you in while the lyrics keep you entertained for 3 ½ minutes. Easily, one of the best songs on the album. The beautiful, bold political “Lenders in the Temple” has a nice subtle edge that is comforting in a disturbing way. I loved all the references to The Bible, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, and the government within the song. A well-composed song from an exceptional entertainer.
Although “Danny Callahan” is a good song, it seems out of place. Maybe it’s because it feels like a Neil Young song circa early 1970s or the fact it could be a bar band song instead of a Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen-like song. Still, it’s enjoyable. Luckily, it’s followed up by “I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital).” The song is a rockabilly/country rock song that feels like the lovechild of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Hank Williams. You can’t help, but sing along with this bluesy badass rockabilly song. It’s cheesy at times, yet infectious and irresistible.
As the album progresses, “Eagle On A Pole” illustrates Oberst’s maturity and shows he has grownup. If this is an inkling of what is to come I can hardly wait. Oberst gets better with age and seems destined for bigger, brighter things. My favorite song is “NYC- Gone, Gone,” which is a foot stomping, blood pumping beat that lasts over a minute. Filled with electric guitars and diligent drums, Oberst embraces his “On the Road” persona that makes you want to chant this song all day long.
Oberst is the combination of classic country rock, rockabilly, folk and great rock music. This is obvious in the Tom Petty-esque “Moab,” which is a wonderful and memorable song. “Moab” is arguably the best song on the entire album. Critics of Oberst will argue that he is trying too hard to be Dylan, Springsteen and other influential artists, but I wholeheartedly disagree. He is merely showing his influences and expressing his heart. Sure there are also echoes of Tom Waits and Paul Simon as well, but listeners will observe Oberst is more focused.
Skip the 49 second “Valle Místico (Ruben’s Song)" and instead listen to “Souled Out!!!” “Souled Out!!!” is a beautiful ballad fused with power pop and folk. The album closes with “Milk Thistle,” a good bookend to finish the album. Although an acoustic song about the grim realities of dying, “Milk Thistle” fits flawlessly with the overall theme of exploring our emotions. Yearning for more morbid music is absurd, but if it’s this provocative and poignant, please sign me up. Conor Oberst is an amazing artist worth discovering if you appreciate good music.
From 1976 through 1979 you couldn’t find a rock AM radio station that didn’t have one or more Al Stewart songs in the rotation. Hits such as “The Year Of The Cat,” “On The Border” and “Time Passages” provided a steady and jazzy folk rock background to the times.
Ten years earlier Bob Dylan crashed his motorcycle and was injured. During his convalescence he wrote demos for other up and coming talent including “This Wheel’s On Fire” for Julie Driscoll; “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” for The Byrds; and “The Mighty Quinn” for Manfred Mann. However, he spent most of his time playing in his basement with a band called Big Pink that would ultimately become The Band. When Al Stewart hit the airwaves in 1976 Dylan was completing The Band’s farewell tour, The Last Waltz.
I don’t know if Dylan and Stewart have ever played together. If they have I haven’t heard it. Dylan is an American raised in Minnesota whose personal folk music is greatly affected by the British Invasion and the blues. Stewart hails from the U.K. and originally worked with legends such as Jimmy Page and Alan Parsons before finding his own stardom in the U.S. If they had made music together what would it sound like? What type of lyrics would they write? How would they orchestrate the music? Would they be any good?
Now, I think I know the possible answers to these questions. In my inbox was a new thirteen track release of original material from ortoPilot called The Weatherman. ortoPilot is basically the band name for Matt Hutchison. Hutchison is from Manchester, U.K. and is probably best known for YouTube videos of song covers (he has also released five volumes of covers.) This, The Weatherman, is his third, and latest, release.
The release moves Hutchison away from his bedroom covers and provides a professionally recorded, and satisfying, baker’s dozen of original tunes. Hutchison’s smooth Manchester accent has the same affectation you hear in Al Stewart’s voice and, like Stewart, Hutchison combines it with skiffle, folk and jazz acoustic guitar and orchestration.
The songs contain wonderful lyrical hooks and reflect human emotion, interaction and reaction For example, on the track “Call Me” a syncopated jazz, reggae, rock, rhythm piece, Hutchison sings, in part:
Call me anytime you like. I might surprise you.
You might enjoy the night and I will listen to anything you have to say.
I will offer advice to help you on your way.
But she stays here waiting.
I’m hanging on if you want to get wasted and move on.”
The lyrics make you wonder whether Hutchison is a pusher or just love-smitten and trying to hold on to a love that is ready to leave - which is to say that the lyrics have nuance and texture that Dylan’s lyrics possess.
Hutchison builds his tracks with his voice and acoustic guitar as the primary elements. He then surrounds these with other instruments, drums and harmonies to build very accessible and soaring lyrical musicscapes. It is all soft, comfortable, thoughtful, oddly nostalgic and very enjoyable.
If you know Al Stewart’s hits and Bob Dylan’s post-accident music and can combine them in your mind, you won’t need The Weatherman to know which way Hutchison blows. If you think the combination works for you, or if you can’t visualize the combination, then, by all means, check out this ortoPilot release. You won’t be disappointed.
This summer was unusual. The past fifteen or twenty Aprils through Octobers I have spent almost all of my leisure time pursuing trout. I became addicted to fly fishing in the mid-1980’s. Even prior to then, I would gather my spinning rod and gear and head to a river, stream, lake or pond to stalk Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salmo trutta, Salvelinus fontinalis and Oncorhynchus aguabonita - rainbow, brown, brook and golden trout. I have pursued the fish from the Arizona desert through the Sierra Nevada, Rocky and Cascade Mountains onto the plains of Saskatchewan.
This year, until last weekend, I had not gone fishing - not once. I did not even buy a California fishing license. I had purchased a yearly California fishing license since I was 16 years old. It was a hard year. I stuck close to home. One of my best fishing buddies received a diagnosis of cancer and was now unable to camp or fish. As the summer wore on he got worse. One of my daughters was having difficulty finding a job after college. The other one was subsidized by us at college out of state. I did not often get to see her. I lost interest in camping and fishing.
So, for the first time this year last weekend I went trout fishing. My wife and I arranged a camping trip with friends and I volunteered to teach them to fly fish. We bought two-day fishing licenses and headed off for Mount Lassen. I waded into the creek, caught a few fish, sat around the fire and remembered why I had done this for the past 30 years. I came home tired, dirty but refreshed.
On Monday I went outside to get the mail and there it was inside a small padded manila envelope - Lookin’ At Lucky by Trout Fishing In America. Coincidence?
Trout Fishing In America has been around since I tied my first fly to tippet. This release, on their own label called Trout Records, is their first album for grown-ups in eleven years. The band is Keith Grimwood on bass and vocals and Ezra Idlet singing along and playing almost every folk instrument known to man - the guitar, ukelele, banjo and bouzouki, as well as percussion. From 1999 until this release Trout Fishing In America was for kids. They received the children’s music industry’s highest awards - National Parent Publication and Parent’s Choice Awards. They have also garnered four Grammy nominations for “Best Musical Album for Children.”
Long before Trout Fishing In America there was St. Elmo’s Fire, the adult folk rock band where Grimwood and Idlet met. Soon they played side gigs together and, in the late 1970’s as St. Elmo’s Fire dissolved, they played a side gig at a grade school that led to their dedication to kids.
Boy, have those kids been lucky. Yet, I bet if you ask Trout Fishing In America they would tell you that you are “Lookin’ At Lucky.” I have not heard original folk music that is as tight, well-written and beautifully performed since neoprene waders were popular.
The first song on the album is “Lookin’ At Lucky,” a country bluegrass march, with a great fiddle part, that tells the story of how a man feels when they’re with someone they love. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. It is followed by a country two-step square dance called “She’s The Only Smile,” a song about casting one’s eyes on the most interesting girl at the dance. The tune flows quickly as it dives below the surface.
A fantastic country blues called “Bettin’ That It Won’t” recounts those instances when one hopes for a certain good result but is almost positive it won’t end well - like casting after clumsily tripping over your felt-sole shoes in a quiet pool. You might hook a fish, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The ballad “Home” is a well-performed melancholy country song about wandering and yearning for home. I could hear echos of the early Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Little River Band. The song is designed to make you sad - like when you hook a big fish but end up losing it before you even had a chance to see it. One of the cutest songs on the album is a talking blues, called “Safer Haven,” where the singer goes from location to location and keeps being hit by natural disasters. The song owes a lot to Arlo Guthrie, John Denver and Harry Chapin. It made me reflect back on those times on the river when a thunderstorm would come in and I’d be standing hip deep in water waving the equivalent of a carbon fibre lightning rod. The track “Drivin’ Rain” is a little country blues funk number. Idlet plays the banjo like it was a rhythm guitar. The lyrics and rhythm brought to mind the swish-swish of the wipers on an old Montana fishing guide’s truck during a mountain storm on the way back from a river fishing float trip.
An odd tune, “Who Knows What He Might Do,” is a driving rant about growing old and acting your age. I could empathize. Years ago I could climb over boulders, log jams, rapids and waterfalls in search of prey. Now, find me a deep pool with easy access. I still have that same desire to aggressively wade up stream, but at my age I learned that I just don’t have the same ability. The song “Not Every Dream” is a slow ballad that reminds me of an old Celtic folk song and carries onabout still feeling the same way you did when you were younger. Counterpoint is provided by violin and acoustic guitar. It brought to mind all those nights with fishing buddies around the campfire passing the bottle of Maker’s Mark and reminiscing.
A wonderful blues-based number, “The Car’s Running,” recounts “senior moments” such as losing your glasses on your forehead, misplacing the keys, etc. It made me recall when I hiked two miles upstream to a favorite pool and discovered I’d left my fly boxes back in the car. “How Many Times A Fool,” a banjo folk tune, explores all the stupid things we do that hurt the ones we love. Sparsely produced and performed, it is as emotive as an early Bob Dylan song, but done with a much better singing voice. It brought to mind a time one of my fishing buddies on a fishing trip stopped for a drink at a bar in Sierra City on the way back from the river to camp. There, on a bar stool in the corner, was his first ex-wife. We didn’t see him back in camp the entire weekend. In fact, he made his own way back to the Bay Area days later as we all avoided phone calls from his wife.
The last two songs on the album are “I Pretend To Understand” and “My Baby Loves Sudoku.” The former is a slow country blues about being unable to remember or understand, but, acting like you do. The latter is a tongue-in-cheek novelty bluegrass epistle on how Sudoku ruins marriages. It is the closest song on the album to a kid’s song. Both are a bit silly - like when a fishing partner’s wading shoes soles fell apart in the river and I watched pieces of leather and felt float by while he stood in the river in neoprene stocking feet. He then knew there was a two mile walk in bare feet out of the canyon ahead of him. He just went back to fishing for trout until it turned dark.
All in all “Lookin’ At Lucky” is a clever, light, well-performed and well-written first attempt to venture into the world of adult music. The cuteness and cleverness of Trout Fishing In America’s children’s songs remain. The musicianship makes each song fun. The album is like wet-wading - pulling on the old felt-soled boots and leaving the waders behind. You’re not going in deep or traveling far, but, it sure is damn refreshing. especially if you have a great cast.
From 1976 through 1979 you couldn’t find a rock AM radio station that didn’t have one or more Al Stewart songs in the rotation. Hits such as “The Year Of The Cat,” “On The Border” and “Time Passages” provided a steady and jazzy folk rock background to the times. 
