Well, it’s quite an understatement to say I haven’t posted much lately. It’s not that I haven’t tried. I have started at times many, many posts and somehow I can never complete them. However the other night, I had a wild thought why not go back to where it all started at least musically!
For the majority of my adult life I listen to mostly Folk and Americana music. In college I listen to a combination of rock and folk. However, as the years past and the rock groups that I loved weren’t on the radio anymore, I listen to my folk musician favorites from the 60s and 70s. In the 1980 and early 90s I added several more Folk and Americana favorites.
Then in the mid-90s I discovered Texas Country music. I also started to listen to a variety of blues musicians. (Thank- you Stevie Ray Vaughan)
In 2014 after blogging about that music, I started listening to several different music genres. I started listening to and writing about more New Age music. In conjunction with this Instarted listening to more jazz and progressive rock.
Since the number of hours in the day available to listen to music is limited the amount of time I listened to Folk and Americana music diminished.
The 30-Day Folk Music Challenge
Until last Tuesday when I decided to create a 30-day Folk Music Challenge. I that challenge I am going to listen to albums from those artist who I have listened to over the last 50 some of years!
Folk Album of the Day – “Blue River” Eric Andersen
It is now the sixth day of the challenge. Today’s album was ……
Eric Andersen’s 1972 release Blue River. Eric was part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the mid-1960s. His most popular songs from that era were “Violets of Dawn” and “Thirsty Boots” which as been recorded by many, many people.
Blue River was probably his most commercially successful album. It climbed as high as 169 on Billboard’s Top 200. My favorite tracks include: Is It Really Live at All?” and “Wind and Sand”
Links
Eric Andersen
Wikipedia
As I was reading about the album at Wikipedia I read that a number of musicians who played on the album were the reason I took a chance on several albums in the 1970s. They were a group of the best session musicians around and included….
David Bromberg – dobro, acoustic guitar
DavidBriggs – organ, keyboards, celeste
Weldon Myrick – steel guitar
Norbert Putnam – bass
Kenneth Buttrey – drums, percussion, tambourine
In the 70s, if I picked up an album and saw these guys listed on the album, I’d pick up the album. Sometimes even though I didn’t know the artist. I knew at least I’d like the music!
The Challenge Leads to New Folk/Americana
So after listening to some of my favorite folk music over the last several days, I decided to check out the Folk Charts at Roots Music Report.
I found several artists I’ve never listened to before, give thEir stuff a quick listen and was pleased with what I heard. I also remember the Euro-Americana Chart and checked it out finding more new folk/Americana artists! So expect to hear about those new albums mixed in with the old albums.
Finally, I also listened to some new Blues today and found to groups I really liked. The first one was Terminal Station and the second The Bluesbones. The later was my favorite so you’ll probably hear about that one first
Here’s “Is It Really Live at All” from Eric Andersen
