Category Archives: In memoriam

Memorial Day Tribute Playlist

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Remember those that gave all.

Johnny Cash – Ballad of Ira Hayes

Jason Isbell – Dress Blues

Drive-By Truckers – The Home Front

Ernest Tubb – Soldier’s Last Letter

Tom Waits – Soldier’s Things

John Michael Montgomery – Letters From Home

Sammy Kershaw – The Snow White Rows Of Arlington

George Jones – Fifty Thousand Names Carved In The Wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpBiVpSggNs

Bruce Robison (w/Charlie Robison) – Travelin’ Soldier

Merle Haggard – Fightin’ Side Of Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAFmFsb9XM

Radney Foster – Angel Flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZBFdvZDfM

News Round Up: George Jones released From Hospital

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  • George Jones has been released from a Nashville, Tenn. hospital. Jones was admitted with an upper respiratory infection. The 80-year-old spent a week in March in the hospital with the same illness. The legendary country singer had canceled performances through June and will reschedule shows where possible.
  • Legendary roots musician Doc Watson remains in critical condition at a North Carolina hospital after undergoing colon surgery this past week. The 89-year-old Watson had also fallen early in the week. No bones were broken, but an underlying condition prompted the surgery.
  • In honor of what would have been his 72nd birthday Levon Helm’s band and friends - led by Larry Campbell, Theresa Williams, Amy Helm, Byron Isaacs and Justin Gulp -  gathered at his Woodstock farm last night for a commemorative Ramble. The show was announced late Saturday night and quickly sold.
  • The Luckenbach Sunday Picker Circle host for the last 3 years, Cowboy Doug Davis, has passed away.  Luckenbach , TX will hold a memorial service in honor of Doug Next Sunday June 3 at 5pm.

Happy Birthday Levon Helm – A Tribute in 10 Songs

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Levon Helm’s was taken to us too soon, and he didn’t write many songs on his own, but every song he performed he distinguished as his own. On this anniversary of what would have been his 72nd birthday here are some well-known and lesser known songs he left his imprint on. RIP brother Levon. The place isn’t the same without you.

“The Weight”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”

“Up On Cripple Creek”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnlU6rPfwY

“Ophelia”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8

“Poor Old Dirt Farmer”

“Anna Lee”

“The Mountain” (w/composer Steve Earle)

“Atlantic City”

“Evangeline”(w/Emmylou Harris)

Honky Tonkin’ “(w/Sissy Spacek)

Music Legend Levon Helm Succumbs to Cancer

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“Why do the best things always disappear?” Ophelia
The other day I read a tweet from Jason Isbell that read “I don’t know what to say.” that offered had a link to levonhelm.com. When I followed that link the official site read that  “Levon was in the final stages of his battle with cancer.” Today at at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City the music legend left this last and final stage.
Helm was a key member of a band brimming with talent. Once backing rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins under the moniker “The Hawks,” and then backing Dylan as he shook the folk culture by bringing it into the electric age. The negative reaction of this event shook Helm to the extent that he returned to his birth state, Arkansas, to work on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico for two years until he was asked to rejoin the band.
Though primarily known for his tight drumming style and distinctive Southern growling vocal style Helm was an accomplished on mandolin, guitar, bass, harmonica and banjo. This wealth of talent allowed him to endure long after the demise of The Band.
As the soul American in the otherwise Canadian The Band’; Helm’s lent Sothern authenticity to some of their best known songs and the sound of elongated drawl shaped the words into authenticity. His solo career built on that  foundation and he  used his Woodstock NY barn for his Rambles,  to experiment in open community jams that helped shape the sound and and to celebrate the heritage of music and shape the style we now know as Americana. Fittingly, Helm won two of the three Americana Album of the Year Grammys that have been handed out since the categories existence (Electric Dirt in 2010 and Ramble at the Ryman in 2011.) There is no argument that Helm is a founding father of the genre.
When news of Helm’s death started fanning across the web artists began to use twitter to pay their respects and reminisce. Rodney Crowell ‏ (@RodneyJCrowell) tweeted “Rest in Peace, Brother Levon.” Loretta Lynn (@The_LorettaLynn) tweeted (by way of her Facebook page) “Levon Helm will Always hold a special place in my heart. He was as great of an actor as a musician .. For me watching him play the role of my daddy in Coal miners daughter is a memory I will alway(s) treasure”
Helm is best known role was playing the aforementioned stern but loving father, Ted Webb, to Sissy Spacek’s Loretta. But he also had memorable parts in a number of other films including the excellent Tommy Lee Jones’ directed and starred in film “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.”

As musicians and fans tweeted the news “RIP Levon Helm” , “The Last Waltz” and “TheBand” were all listed as trending topics on the main page. Helm’s official Facebook page currently has over 6000 comments on the news of his death. It’s heartening to see a man so steeped in tradition being celebrated by fans taking solace in these online communities.
I believe it’s not a day of sadness bit of a celebration of a great life well lived. I was fortunate to see Helm perform live when he brought the Ramble on a rare road trip to San Francisco in August 2010. I’ll leave you with a video from that extraordinary performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxenRRQGlt0

:(:)

Legendary Bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs dies

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A great light in the music universe has dimmed. Earl Scruggs was as important to the shaping of American music what Hank Williams and Louis Armstrong  A pioneer in banjo player who helped create modern country music and Americana music that is heard in the contemporary work of Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers Bela Fleck.

Scruggs passed away early Wednesday at the age of 88 of natural causes in Nashville. The same town where the sound  he developed with Lester Flatt and the Blue Grass Boys – a fusion of traditional Appalachian with jazz don with extraordinary dexterity often at breakneck speeds, raised eyebrows in that very town. This was decades before Elvis Outlaw movement also sent tongues wagging.

Honky-Tonk great Porter Wagoner perfectly summed up Scruggs’ legacy like this: “I always felt like Earl was to the five-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball. He is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A51yM6fjnAE&feature=related

Veterans Day Americana Mix – For Those That Serve

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Aesthetics aren’t the only think that separates mainstream Music City country from it’s rustic yet urbane cousin Americana , there are political themes that differentiate as well. Music City doesn’t have a lock on patriotism any more than it does mom and apple pie. Here’s some Americana/classic country greats on this day for remembrance for those that serve.
Jason Isbell – Dress Blues
Johnny Cash – The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
Bruce Robison – Travelin’ Soldier
John Prine – Sam Stone
Tom Russell – Veteran’s Day
Drive-By Truckers – Mama Bake A Pie (Daddy Kill A Chicken)
Jamey Johnson – In Color
Hank Williams – Searching For A Soldier’s Grave
Radney Foster – Angel Flight
Steve Earle – Johnny Come Lately

Listen here on Spotify

News Round-Up: Hayes Carll and Ryan Bingham Leave Lost Highway

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  • The latest news from the wasted trailer-park that is music industry; Hayes Carll and Ryan Bingham have parted ways with their label the Universal Americana imprint Lost Highway. Mike Crowley, Carll’s manager, said in response to Carlls’ departure “Being part of Universal Music, we’ve watched as the corporation has tightened the reins on Lost Highway…The requirements that Universal imposes just make less and less sense for artists like Hayes and Ryan, who are never going to be something that can be marketed like Lady Gaga.”
  • Johnnie Wright, Country Singer, Bandleader, manager and husband of Kitty Wells, had died at the age of 97. (New York Times)
  • The current King of Country, George Strait, has been added to an already stellar lineup for the Fire Relief:
    The Concert for Central Texas event, which already booked Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, the Dixie Chicks and
    Asleep at the Wheel, Eric Johnson, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Shawn Colvin, the Texas Tornados and the Court Yard Hounds will make guest appearances, and Turk Pipkin and ‘Friday Night Lights’ star Kyle Chandler will host the event.. The benefit show, which is slated for October 17 at the Frank Erwin Center in the capitol city of Austin, Texas, will raise money to help replace the estimated $250 million loss in damages.   Tickets range from $25-$250, with the higher end being VIP tickets that allow concert-goers close access to the stage as well as an exclusive lounge area.
  • Looking forward to seeing Merle Haggard today ay Hardly Strictly Bluegrass with that youngster Kris Kristofferson. Here is the The Hag discussing his recent bout with cancer and his take on the current political climate. Here’s a hint, he recently penned a anti-government cut entitled “Shut It Down.” Take that Steve Earle.

:happy trails

RIP Ralph Mooney – influential steel guitarist for Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard

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Ralph Mooney influential steel guitarist played with Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard and one of the architects of country musics answer to rock onslaught, the 50’s ‘Bakersfield sound’  He also co-wrote, with Charles Seals, the honky-tonk standard ‘Crazy Arms,’ which became a No. 1 hit in 1956 for Ray Price. It was Price’s first number one hit. Mooney said he got the idea for the song after his wife left him because of his drinking problem

Mooney died Sunday at his home in Kennedale, Texas, of complications from cancer, said his wife, Wanda.

Mooney had slowed down in playing recent years, but he still played and recorded periodically until near the end of his life. He played on four tracks on Marty Stuart’s 2010 Grammy-winning album “Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdUeQ9yFW0&feature=related[/youtube]

Charlie Louvin – A Country Legend Dies

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Image by www.neltnercreative.com

Yesterday morning I got up at 5am and poured myself a cuppa, sat down and booted up the computer machine. Like millions of others I started my journey on Facebook. Then I saw at the lower right of my screen I saw someone initiating a chat with me. It was Blake Judd. All it said was “Charlie Louvin passed this morning.”

I had heard this before. Earlier this month rumors were spreading that Louvin has finally succumbed to the pancreatic cancer which he was diagnosed with last July. In his typical style Louvin had vowed to fight it and even after he had undergone unsuccessful surgery to remove the tumor he continued to schedule performances and even put out an album “The Battle Rages On,” a collection of war songs. On January 14th Louvin had taken to Twitter to announce “I just wanted to clear up a vicious rumor..I’m very much alive. At home resting, getting stronger each day!”

But this time was different. Blake Judd  wasn’t just some rumor monger. Blake Judd, from Judd Films, based in Kentucky, has been co-directing a non-profit film about Charlie Louvin that was being made to help Louvin with his medical bills. George Jones, John McCrea of CAKE, Marty Stuart, and Alison Krauss have been so kind as to appear in the film.

Blake had contacted me earlier this week to ask to use a video I had made of Louvin and Billy Bob Thorton singing  The Knoxville Girl at Nashville’s Cannery during the 2008 Americana Music Conference and Festival. It was an honor to be a part of this undertaking, of course I agreed.

I did a quick Google news search but nothing had been announced. But I trusted the source and posted the sad news on my twitter account. I knew this was just the thing my followers would want to know. I also posted it on the Twang Nation Facebook page and in a case of classic Internet age sourcing a post comment was added to the post from No Depression’s Kim Ruehl that his Wikipedia page still had him listed as alive. She was right, I was becoming uncertian.

An hour later that had changed. 1/26 had been added as the date of death on Wikipedia.But the I noticed an astonishing thing was happening on Twiiter. Charlie Louvin was a trending topic. Now trending topics on Twitter can be a great bottom-up source of news, like in the suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport , but more often than not the trending topics are a source of stupid jokes gone viral. But there it was , Charlie Louvin’s death had gone viral.

It was a fine send off for a man that made it big, along with his brother Ira, as the Louvin brothers. The groups were innovators of the close-harmony style that influenced The Everly Brothers and, then later, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, Gram Parson’s version of The Byrds and The Beach Boys. Ira was notorious for drinking and reckless behavior leading Charlie Louvin to fire his brother. The next year, after a period of sobriety, Ira was killed when a drunk driver struck his car.

Louvin’s later career resurgence, Like many legends of country music, didn’t come from Music City but came from the Americana community. While covering the Louvin Brothers cold war testament “The Great Atomic Power” live Uncle Tupelo caught the eye of Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M., who saw the alt.country pioneers perform at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. Buck offered to produce their next album. The album March 16-20, 1992 on Buck’s Rockville Records and contained The Great Atomic Power with an abbreviated title.

In 2006 New York’s Tompkins Square Records released disc of classics containing one new song, a tribute to Ira, and a gospel album on Tompkins Square Records. The songs pair Louvin with other singers, such as George Jones, Jeff Tweedy of Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, Alex McManus of Bright Eyes and Elvis Costello.

Here’s to a great man that stayed true to his art and vision.

Charlie Louvin, Country Singer, Dies at 83 (New York Times)

Charlie Louvin, Country Hall Of Fame Singer, Has Died (NPR)

Neko Case’s 2005 interview with Charlie Louvin (Fretboard Journal)

Charlie Louvin – Magic Songs of Life (No Depression – Peter Blackstock)

Charlie Louvin Daytrotter Session