Tag Archives: Mavis-Staples

Americana Music Association Announces Streaming ‘Thriving Roots’ Conference

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Thriving Roots

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has rolled the music industry keeping musicians from coming together together to create music and keeping musicians off the road and deriving them of a much-needed revenue source. Many have tackled the technical hurdles to stream performances to connect with fans and collect online tips and perhaps move a t-shirt or a slab of vinyl.

It follows that music festivals would follow much the same path. Americana Music Association’s AmericanaFest as a face-to-face event has been scrapped for their charitable and educational branch, the Americana Music Association Foundation, will hold a ‘Thriving Roots,’ a virtual festival complete with industry-focused panels and live-streamed performances.

Set for September 16th-18th the event will include guest speakers Jackson Browne, Mavis Staples,Brandi Carlile, Yola, Emmylou Harris, Ken Burns, Taj Mahal, Mary Gauthier, Rhiannon Giddens, T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, and Black Pumas. Topics slated to be covered are representation, advocacy and staying true to your art, the healing qualities of music, and the business challenges and decisions faced by a developing artist.

The full agenda for ‘Thriving Roots’ will be announced in late August.

Early bird passes for conference registration are $99 and available now.

 Wanted! – Notable Americana and Roots Music Releases for 2017

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Wanted! - Notable Americana and Roots Music Releases for 2017

2016 was another great year for Americana and roots music, and 2017 shows signs that the great music will continue to come our way. As our Cream of the Crop favorites from last year makes plain we might be experiencing a new golden age of roots music/ Both as a growing influence on our contemporary culture and also as a viable, business for young and old artists to sustain themselves and thrive.

That last part is crucial as it provides economic and influential seed corn for the future ‘Cream of the Crop’ year-end best of collections.

The list below is a collection of known 2017 notable Americana / roots releases. Some anticipated releases from artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and The Secret Sisters have no release dates yet, but when I become aware of them and others I will be updating the list throughout the year and will send word through my twitter account when I do.

If you know of a release not listed yet please leave it in the comments.

One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a great year folks.

January 13th –
The Band of Heathens – ‘Duende’
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings – ‘Kings and Kings’
Otis Gibbs – ‘Mount Renraw’

January 20th –
Kasey Chambers – ‘Dragonfly’
The Show Ponies – How It All Goes Down’
Rayna Gellert – ‘Workin’s Too Hard’

January 27th –
Delbert McClinton – ‘Prick Of The Litter’
Tift Merritt – ‘Stitch of the World’
Valerie June – ‘The Order of Time’
Bankesters – ‘Nightbird’
Dead Man Winter – ‘Furnace’

February 3rd –
Ags Connolly – ‘Nothin’ Unexpected’
Gurf Morlix – ‘The Soul & The Heal’
Mitch Dean –‘Suburban Speakeasy’
Rose Cousins – ‘Natural Conclusion’
Caroline Spence – ‘Spades & Roses’

February 10th –
Kris Kristofferson – The Austin Sessions (Expanded Edition)

February 17th –
Alison Krauss – ‘Windy City’
Nikki Lane – ‘Highway Queen’
Pegi Young & The Survivors – ‘Raw’
Son Volt – ‘Notes Of Blue’
Son of the Velvet Rat – ‘Dorado’
Blair Crimmins – ‘You Gotta Sell Something’
The Gibson Brothers – “In The Ground”

February 24th –
Curtis McMurtry – ‘The Hornet’s Nest’
Rhiannon Giddens – ‘Freedom Highway’
Old 97s – ‘Graveyard Whistling’
Scott H. Biram – “The Bad Testament”
Shinyribs – “I Got Your Medicine”
Aaron Watson – “Vaquero”

March 3rd –
Grandaddy – ‘Last Place’
Beth Bombara – ‘Map With No Direction ‘

March 10th –
Sunny Sweeney – “Trophy’
Pieta Brown – “Postcards”

March 24th –
Jessi Colter – ‘The Psalms’
Samantha Crain – ‘You Had Me At Goodbye’

March 31st –
Rodney Crowell – ‘Close Ties”
David Olney – “Don’t Try To Fight It”
Dead Soldiers – “The Great Emptiness”
Shoddy Blacktooth — “Don’t Forget To Die”

April 7th
Malcolm Holcombe – ‘Pretty Little Troubles’
Andrew Combs – “Canyons Of My Mind”

April 14th
Evening Darling – “Evening Darling’

April 21st –
Angaleena Presley – ‘Wrangled’

May 5th
Chris Stapleton – ‘From a Room: Volume 1’

May 19th
Builders and the Butchers – ‘The Spark’
Pokey LaFarge – ‘Manic Revelations’
Tom Russell – ‘Play One More: The Songs Of Ian And Sylvia’

May 26th
Justin Townes Earle – ‘Kids in the Street’

June 2nd –
Bobby Osborne – ‘Original’

June 9th –
The Secret Sisters – ‘You Don’t Own Me Anymore’
Shannon McNally – ‘Black Irish’

June 16th –
Sammy Brue – ‘I Am Nice’

June 23rd –
The Deslondes – ‘Hurry Home’
Slaid Cleaves – ‘Ghost on the Car Radio’

July 7th –
Randall Bramblett – ‘Juke Joint At The Edge Of The World’

July 14th –
Cale Tyson – ‘Careless Soul’

July 21st –
Whiskey Shivers – ‘Some Part of Something”

August 4th
Tyler Childers – ‘Purgatory’

August 18th
Loretta Lynn – ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’ POSTPONED
Ray Wylie Hubbard – ‘Tell the Devil I’m Getting There as Fast as I Can’

September 8th
Caroline Reese – ‘Two Horses’ EP

September 15th
Willie Watson – ‘Folksinger Vol. 2’
The Lone Bellow – ‘Walk Into A Storm’

September 22nd
Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers – “The Long-Awaited Album”
Billy Strings – ‘Turmoil & Tinfoil’

September 29th
Anna Tivel – “Small Believer”

October 6th
Whitney Rose – ‘Rule 62’
JD McPherson – ‘Undivided Heart and Soul’
Becca Mancari – ‘Good Woman’

October 13th
Hellbound Glory – ‘Pinball’
Caleb Cladry – ‘Invincible Things’

October 16th
Gill Landry – ‘Love Rides A Dark Horse’

October 20th
Turnpike Troubadours – ‘A Long Way From Your Heart’
Dori Freeman – ‘Letters Never Read’

October 27th
Lee Ann Womack – ‘The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone’
Ronnie Fauss – ‘Last of the True’
The Wailin’ Jennys – ‘Fifteen’
The Deep Dark Woods – ‘Yarrow’

October 31st
Year of October – ‘Trouble Comes’

November 3rd
Samantha Fish – ‘Belle of the West’
Anna St. Louis – “First Songs’
Scott Miller – ‘Ladies Auxiliary’

November 17th
Mavis Staples – ‘If All I Was Was Black’

December
Chris Stapleton – ‘From a Room: Volume 2’

December 8th
Robert Ellis and Courtney Hartman – ‘Dear John’

Grammys 2016 – Alabama Shakes , Punch Brothers, Mavericks, Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell Among Roots Nominees

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58th-Grammy-Logo

The Recording Academy® announced nominations for the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards® in all 83 categories this morning. The nominees were selected from more than 21,000 submissions entered from the only peer-based music award, voted on by The Academy’s membership body of creators across all disciplines of music, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers.

Roots rock band Alabama Shakes has proven crossover appeal by a snagging a total of five GRAMMY nominations for their latest ‘Sound & Color.
Punch Brothers follow with 3 nominations. The Mavericks, Jason Isbell and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell follow with 2 nominations apiece.

Lee Ann Womack is up for Best Country Solo Performance and Hayes Carll received a Best Country Song nomination for “Chances Are,” a great track on her album “The Way I’m Livin’.”

Roots super-producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton) is up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and the GRAMMY voters again prove more open that genre specific award shows by nominating Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves and current country / roots (deserving) darling Chris Stapleton for Best Country Album alongside mainstream favorites Sam Hunt and Little Big Town.

Gospel and soul legend and Best Americana Album recipient Mavis Staples was nominated for Best American Roots Performance for her version of ” Blind Lemon Jefferson’s ‘See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’ from her latest ‘Your Good Fortune’ EP.

Bob Dylan’s ‘Shadows in the Night’ is up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and British pop-soul crooner James Bay is nominated for Best New Artist. Wilco and My Morning Jacket are both up for Best Alternative Music Album.

made a name for himself this year by melding his deep, melodic voice with simple, blues-inspired guitar riffs. He released his debut album Chaos and the Calm, which is also nominated for a Best Rock Album Grammy, this past March, earning comparisons to pal Ed Sheeran, whom he’s performed with before.

Final-round GRAMMY® ballots will be mailed Dec. 16 and the will be presented Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

Best Country Album:
Sam Hunt, Montevallo
Little Big Town, Pain Killer
Ashley Monroe, The Blade
Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material
Chris Stapleton, Traveller

Best Americana Album:
Brandi Carlile, The Firewatcher’s Daughter
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, The Traveling Kind
Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free
The Mavericks, Mono
Punch Brothers, The Phosphorescent Blues

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Brothers Osborne, “Stay a Little Longer”
Joey + Rory, “If I Needed You”
Charles Kelley, Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay, “The Driver”
Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Blake Shelton feat. Ashley Monroe, “Lonely Tonight”

Best Country Song
Lee Ann Womack, “Chances Are”
Tim McGraw, “Diamond Rings And Old Barstools”
Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Brandy Clark, “Hold My Hand”
Chris Stapleton, “Traveller”

Best Country Solo Performance
Cam, “Burning House”
Chris Stapleton, “Traveller”
Carrie Underwood, “Little Toy Guns”
Keith Urban, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
Lee Ann Womack, “Chances Are”

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical:
Jeff Bhasker
Dave Cobb
Diplo
Larry Klein
Blake Mills

Best American Roots Performance:

And Am I Born To Die
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, And Am I Born To Die
Track from: Béla Fleck And Abigail Washburn

Buddy Guy, Born To Play Guitar
Track from: Born To Play Guitar

The Milk Carton Kids, City Of Our Lady
Track from: Monterey

Punch Brothers, Julep
Track from: The Phosphorescent Blues

Mavis Staples, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
Track from: Your Good Fortune

Best American Roots Song

All Night Long
Raul Malo, songwriter (The Mavericks)
Track from: Mono
Label: The Valory Music Co.; Publisher(s): Big Machine Music/Raul Malo Music

The Cost Of Living
Don Henley & Stan Lynch, songwriters (Don Henley & Merle Haggard)
Track from: Cass County
Label: Capitol Records; Publisher(s): Wisteria Music (GMR) admin. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Matanzas Music

Julep
Chris Eldridge, Paul Kowert, Noam Pikelny, Chris Thile & Gabe Witcher, songwriters (Punch Brothers)
Track from: The Phosphorescent Blues
Label: Nonesuch; Publisher(s): Chris Thile Music, Money Baby Music, Noam Tunes, Silver Hammer Music, Paul Kowert

The Traveling Kind
Cory Chisel, Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris, songwriters (Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell)
Track from: The Traveling Kind
Label: Nonesuch; Publisher(s): Criterion Music o/b/o Coolwell Music/Almo Music Corp. o/b/o Poodlebone Music/Chisel Publishing

24 Frames
Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell)
Track from: Something More Than Free
Label: Southeastern Records; Publisher(s): Songs Of Emchant

Best Bluegrass Album

Pocket Full Of Keys
Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle Records

Before The Sun Goes Down
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Label: Compass Records Group

In Session
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

Man Of Constant Sorrow
Ralph Stanley & Friends
Label: Red River Entertainment

The Muscle Shoals Recordings
The Steeldrivers
Label: Rounder

Best Blues Album
Descendants Of Hill Country
Cedric Burnside Project
Label: Cedric Burnside Project

Outskirts Of Love
Shemekia Copeland
Label: Alligator Records

Born To Play Guitar
Buddy Guy
Label: RCA Records/Silvertone Records

Worthy
Bettye LaVette
Label: Cherry Red

Muddy Waters 100
John Primer & Various Artists
Label: Raisin Music Records

Best Folk Album

Wood, Wire & Words
Norman Blake
Label: Plectrafone Records

Béla Fleck And Abigail Washburn
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Label: Rounder

Tomorrow Is My Turn
Rhiannon Giddens
Label: Nonesuch

Servant Of Love
Patty Griffin
Label: PGM

Didn’t He Ramble
Glen Hansard
Label: Anti

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Go Go Juice
Jon Cleary
Label: FHQ Records

La La La La
Natalie Ai Kamauu
Label: KEKO Records

Kawaiokalena
Keali’i Reichel
Label: Punahele Productions

Get Ready
The Revelers
Label: The Revelers

Generations
Windwalker And The MCW
Label: MCW Productions / PK Productions LLC

Roots Run Strong for 56th Grammy Award Nominees

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Grammy Noms Americana

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Science held their big to-do to announce a few of the nominees for the next round of the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The choices in the Americana and roots categories again display an appreciation of some of the veterans of the genre and the roots they represent.

Collaborations reigned in the Best Americana Album category. Emmylou Harris may add another trophy to the 12 GRAMMYS she a lead has on her mantel with “Old Yellow Moon,” her duet collaboration Hot Band guitarist and legendary singer-songwriter , Rodney Crowell. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell are nominated for “Love Has Come For You,” their first joint effort and Americana stalwarts Buddy Miller And Jim Lauderdale are up for their “Buddy And Jim.” Mavis Staples , who won for Best Americana Album in 2011 is up for “One True Vine.” Legendary composer, producer, performer Allen Toussaint intimate and live deliberation of his new New York City home “Songbook” rounds out the list

Nominees for Best American Roots Song include another new New York resident (By way of Texas) Sarah Jarosz for the title cut of her third studio release, “Build Me Up From Bones.” Steve Earle snagged a spot for “Invisible,” his song focused on the homeless and indigent, from his latest “The Low Highway.” Old partners reconvene to gain a spot with Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott’s “Keep Your Dirty Lights On” from their Memories and Moments. Best Americana Album nominees Edie Brickell & Steve Martin is nominated for the title cut “Love Has Come For You” and Allen Toussaint for “Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed.”

There are no slackers in a bluegrass band, and Best Bluegrass Album nominees are some of the best in the field. A nice surprise was the choice for newcomers Della Mae’s nomination for their sophomore release “This World Oft Can Be” Members of The Boxcars have collected numerous IBMA and GRAMMY Awards and have shared the stage with legends so it’s no surprise that their third album “It’s Just A Road” was nominated. Though Harlan Howard was referring to country music when he coined the term “…three chords and the truth.” James King and his cracker-Jack band adopted it as the title for their first GRAMMY-nominated album. Veterans Dailey & Vincent (Jamie Dailey (guitar, bass, vocals), Darrin Vincent (mandolin, guitar, bass, vocals)) are up for their 3rd GRAMMY Award nomination for their sixth release “Brothers Of The Highway” and the Del McCoury Band nabbed a nomination for their 14th release “The Streets Of Baltimore.” Del and the band won in the category in 2006 for “The Company We Keep.”

Roots music greatness continued with the Best Folk Album category, whose boundaries blur so much with Best Americana Album category that any performer from either side could swap with a perfumer from the other and few people would notice. Patriarch singer/songwriter Guy Clark grabbed his 6th nomination for his latest “My Favorite Picture Of You.” The Greencards received their 3rd GRAMMY nomination for their sixth studio album “Sweetheart Of The Sun” and Sarah Jarosz is up for her 2nd nomination for “Build Me Up From Bones.” Newcomer favorites The Milk Carton Kids are on the list for their current “The Ash & Clay.” “They All Played For Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration,” the roots-rich benefit
in tribute to the Arhoolie Foundation, and the 50th anniversary of Arhoolie Records, is also included.

Music Row continues to show some interest in Americana-leaning performers with country newcomer
Kacey Musgraves up for Best New Artist, Best Country album (Same Trailer, Different Park) andBest Country Snog (“Merry Go ‘Round”.) Best Country Duo/Group Performance category features The Civil Wars for “From This Valley, ” Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill for “Don’t Rush” and Kenny Rogers With Dolly Parton for “You Can’t Make Old Friends.”

Other nominations honoring Americana and roots artists are the soundtrack for “Muscle Shoals”, nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

Root-rock pioneer Neil Young, with his band Crazy Horse, is looking to garner this third GRAMMY win with “Psychedelic Pill” for Best Rock Album

Multiple GRAMMY winner, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, folksinger Pete Seeger received a GRAMMY nomination for “The Storm King,” in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.

Uncle Tupelo / Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy is up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work with Mavis Staples, Low and Sarah Lee Guthrie And Johnny Irion.

Alabama Shakes is up for Best Rock Performance (“Always Alright”) Jack White for Best Rock Performance (“I’m Shakin'”) Neko Case for Best Alternative Music Album (The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight…) and Mumford & Sons are nominated for Best Boxed or Special Edition Limited Package, Best Music Film (The Road to Red Rocks)

After the nominations were announced twitter was abuzz with folks pointing out a glaring oversight of Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern” for Best Americana Album. The album is on all Americana and roots music end of year lists.

Isbell took to twitter to address with humor the snub,”Don’t worry guys, I’ll get plenty of noms. There’s a Chipotle right across the street from the hotel! #NOM”

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll get plenty of noms. There’s a Chipotle right across the street from the hotel! #NOM”

Congratulations to them all the nominees. Keep an eye on GRAMMY.com and on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/P on on January 26, 2014 to see who wins.

56th Annual Grammy Award Nominees in Americana and Related Categories

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Grammy Noms Americana

Here’s a list of the Country, Americana and roots and related categories from the 56th Annual GRAMMY Award Nominees. Look for a more in-depth post soon.

You can get the full list of all nominees here.

Best Americana Album:
Old Yellow Moon — Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
Love Has Come For You — Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
Buddy And Jim — Buddy Miller And Jim Lauderdale
One True Vine — Mavis Staples
Songbook — Allen Toussaint

Best American Roots Song
“Build Me Up From Bones” Sarah Jarosz, songwriter (Sarah Jarosz) Label: Sugar Hill Records
“Invisible” – Steve Earle, songwriter (Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses)) Label: New West Records
“Keep Your Dirty Lights On” Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott, songwriters (Tim O’Brien And Darrell Scott) Label: Full Skies Records
“Love Has Come For You” – Edie Brickell & Steve Martin, songwriters (Steve Martin & Edie Brickell) Label: Rounder; Publishers: LA Films Music/Brick Elephant Music
“Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed” Allen Toussaint, songwriter (Allen Toussaint) Label: Rounder; Publishers: Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc/Marsaint Music, Inc.

Best Bluegrass Album
“It’s Just A Road” — The Boxcars
“Brothers Of The Highway” — Dailey & Vincent
“This World Oft Can Be” — Della Mae
“Three Chords And The Truth” — James King
“The Streets Of Baltimore” — Del McCoury Band

Best Folk Album
“My Favorite Picture Of You” — Guy Clark
“Sweetheart Of The Sun” — The Greencards
“Build Me Up From Bones” — Sarah Jarosz
“The Ash & Clay” — The Milk Carton Kids
“They All Played For Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration” — (Various Artists) Chris Strachwitz, producer

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“From This Valley” — The Civil Wars
“Don’t Rush” — Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill
“You Can’t Make Old Friends” — Kenny Rogers With Dolly Parton

Artists/albums of interest to the Americana community, nominated in other categories:

Neil Young With Crazy Horse – Best Rock Album (“Psychedelic Pill”)
Pete Seeger – “The Storm King” (Best Spoken Word Album)
Muscle Shoals – Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
Jeff Tweedy – Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Invisible Way (Low) • One True Vine (Mavis Staples) (A) • Wassaic Way (Sarah Lee Guthrie And Johnny Irion))
Kacey Musgraves – Best New Artist, Best Country Artist (Same Trailer, Different Park), Best Country Snog (“Merry Go ‘Round”)
Alabama Shakes – Best Rock Performance (“Always Alright”)
Jack White – Best Rock Performance (“I’m Shakin'”)
Neko Case – Best Alternative Music Album (The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight…)
Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower – Best Children’s Album (Blue Clouds)
Mumford & Sons – Best Boxed or Special Edition Limited Package, Best Music Film (The Road to Red Rocks)
n

Listen Up! Willie Nelson – ‘It Won’t Be Long’ featuring The Secret Sisters

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Willie-Nelson-To-All-The-Girls

The first cut we posted from Willie Nelson’s upcoming collaboration album (and isn’t every Willie Nelson album to some extent a collaboration?) was the heart-wrenching “Grandma’s Hands” featuring the incredible Mavis Staples.

‘To All The Girls….’ (Oct. 15 on Legacy Recordings) features with some of Willie’s favorite female performers. Like Dolly Parton and Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones and Miranda Lambert and many more covering songs that, like Willie’s own, transcend genre approaching something more akin to cuts from the American songbook. Cits that echo the gages like the below cover of Sam Cooke’s moving spiritual featuring country traditionalists duo the Secret Sisters.

Muscle Shoals-natives Laura and Lydia Rogers lend their lovely harmony as a silk backdrop to Willie’s grainy phrasing and winding delivery.

Preorder the album here.

To All The Girls track list:

1. Dolly Parton — From Here To The Moon And Back
2. Miranda Lambert — She Was No Good For Me
3. Secret Sisters — It Won’t Be Very Long
4. Rosanne Cash — Please Don’t Tell Me
5. Sheryl Crow — Far Away Places
6. Wynonna Judd — Bloody Mary Morning
7. Carrie Underwood — Always On My Mind
8. Loretta Lynn — Somewhere Between
9. Alison Krauss — No Mas Amor
10. Melonie Cannon — Back To Earth
11. Mavis Staples — Grandma’s Hands
12. Norah Jones — Walkin’
13. Shelby Lynne — Til The End Of The World
14. Lily Meola — Will You Remember Mine
15. Emmylou Harris — Dry Lightning
16. Brandi Carlile — Making Believe
17. Paula Nelson — Have You Ever Seen The Rain
18. Tina Rose — After The Fire Is Gone

Listen Up! Willie Nelson – “Grandma’s Hands” featuring Mavis Staples

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Willie-Nelson-To-All-The-Girls

Willie Nelson just doesn’t know the meaning of quit. The Texas Yoda took time from his extensive (some might say grueling) touring schedule to enter the studio with some of his favorite female singers for a duets album entitled ‘To All The Girls….’ (Oct. 15 on Legacy Recordings.)

Nelson features his talented daughter Paula Nelson, as well as legends like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Roseanne Cash and newcomers Secret Sisters, Norah Jones, Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert.

Also representing the legend status is Mavis Staples. She and Nelson do a smooth version of Bill Withers’ deeply personal “Grandma’s Hands.” Besides Withers the song has been previously covered by Mavis’ own legendary family gospel group, The Staple Singers.

Preorder the album here.

To All The Girls track list:

1. Dolly Parton — From Here To The Moon And Back
2. Miranda Lambert — She Was No Good For Me
3. Secret Sisters — It Won’t Be Very Long
4. Rosanne Cash — Please Don’t Tell Me
5. Sheryl Crow — Far Away Places
6. Wynonna Judd — Bloody Mary Morning
7. Carrie Underwood — Always On My Mind
8. Loretta Lynn — Somewhere Between
9. Alison Krauss — No Mas Amor
10. Melonie Cannon — Back To Earth
11. Mavis Staples — Grandma’s Hands
12. Norah Jones — Walkin’
13. Shelby Lynne — Til The End Of The World
14. Lily Meola — Will You Remember Mine
15. Emmylou Harris — Dry Lightning
16. Brandi Carlile — Making Believe
17. Paula Nelson — Have You Ever Seen The Rain
18. Tina Rose — After The Fire Is Gone

Listen Up! Mavis Staples Collaborates with Jeff Tweedy on “One True Vine” – Releases Funkadelic Cover

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MAVIS One True Vine

Mavis Staples comes from Gospel, soul and R&B royalty. Singing in the family band The Staple Singers, led by family patriarch Roebuck “Pops” Staples, she made history by being one of the moost ground-breaking spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, helped support the civil rights movement when Pops became close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. They also had hits with covers of contemporary secular pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and a version of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth.”

According to her Bob Dylan was so taken with her that he asked Pops for Mavis’ hand in marriage. I assume Pops didn’t care for that idea.

With that legacy it’s hard to believe that Staples’ first Grammy was won for the Best Americana Album category You Are Not Alone in 2011. I was at the event and in her acceptance speech a crying Staples said “This has been a long time coming.”

On her upcoming release ‘One True Vine (June 25th – Anti Records) will again partner with You Are Not Alone producer and collaborator Jeff Tweedy.

Tweedy and singer-songwriter Nick Lowe wrote songs specifically for the album. The Wilco frontman and his 17-year-old son Spencer played nearly every instrument on the record. Recorded at The Loft in Chicago, the 10-track album also includes Staples covering Funkadelic and Low.

Listen to her version of Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” and check out the full One True Vine track list below.

One True Vine Track List:
1. Holy Ghost
2. Every Step
3. Can You Get to That
4. Jesus Wept
5. Far Celestial Shores
6. What Are They Doing in Heaven Today
7. Sow Good Seeds
8. I Like the Things About Me
9. Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)
10. One True Vine

Elton John and Mumford & Sons Set to Honor Levon Helm at 55th Grammys

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Levon_Helm_at_-life_is_Good_Festival-_in_2011The famed Midnight Ramble will roll into L.A. on Sunday night as Elton John** and Mumford & Sons appear on the Grammy stage to lead a tribute to the late music great Levon Helm, The Associated Press reports.

As part of the awards show’s in memorial tribute, John and Mumford & Sons will be joined by T Bone Burnett, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, Zac Brown and Americana Album of the Year winner Mavis Staples for a special performance of the Band’s “The Weight.

“Can you think of a song that fits (more)?” said Ken Ehrlich, producer of the Grammy Awards. “Philosophically it fits the moment.”

The Band’s 1968 debut, “Music From Big Pink,” and its follow-up, “The Band,” remain landmark albums and count as the vanguards for the Americana movement. Songs such as “The Weight” and “Cripple Creek” have become rock standards. Early on, The Band backed Bob Dylan on his sensational and controversial electric tours of 1965-66 and collaborated with him on the legendary “The Basement Tapes.”

Elton John has a long history with Helm and counted him as a close friend. John and his writing partner Bernie Taupin, wrote the song “Levon”, who’s title character was inspired by The Band’s co-founder, drummer, and singer. The Band was apparently Elton John’s and Taupin’s favorite group at the time. Their sound inspired John and Taupin to create the albums Tumbleweed Connection and Honky Château.

Elton John and his civil partner, David Furnish, named their son “Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John.”

Helm, singer and drummer for The Band, died on April 19th in New York of throat cancer. He was 71. Mumford & Sons are up for four awards at this Sunday’s Grammys, including Album of the Year for Babel. Alabama Shakes are up for two awards, including Best New Artist. Zac Brown Band is up for Best Country album for Uncaged.

Are these the performers I would have chosen for a Helm tribute? Probably not. But the sentiment is genuine and I’m sure that the performances will be heartfelt.

Tune in to the 55th Grammys airing this Sunday on CBS.

‘Love for Levon,’ Tribute to Levon Helm at Izod Center [VIDEOS]

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After attending hundreds of concerts there are very few shows occurring  these days that I wish I had attended. This is one of them.

Gregg Allman, Jakob Dylan, Bruce Hornsby, Mavis Staples, John Prine, Joan Osborne, John Hiatt, Jorma Kaukonen,  Roger Waters, Ray La Montagne and other Rock and Americana music greats all paid tribute to the great Levon Helm who passed away last April.  The performers were backed by the tremendous Levon Helm Band featuring Amy Helm and now led by the guitarist and fiddler Larry Campbell.  The concert will eventually be shown on AXS TV and released as a DVD.

Here are some of the best videos I could find from this once in a lifetime event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkUCu3Si5OI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFQeZDy3eQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dBJpRTSuLg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfRGU9aMjWc