Barna Howard – Quite a Feelin’

Exploring the Music of Singer-Songwriter, Folkie – Barna Howard and his album – Quite a Feelin’

I discovered the music of Barna Howard on the June 2015 Euro-Americana Chart , where his album Quite a Feeling held down the number eight spot. One night when I was going to work at Target I listened to the album for the first time. After listening to the first song “Indiana Rose”, I knew that Mr. Howard and I were going to get along just fine! Barna’s has a sound that harkens back to the folksingers of the 60s. He has a distinctive voice and his accompanying guitar playing is pretty nice also! So the question in my mind was – Who is this Barna Howard! Read More

My Summer Folk/Americana Playlist – Check it Out!

So on the left sidebar there is a playlist of some of my favorite songs from a variety of albums, most of which were released in July August and September of 2014. There are a couple that I’ve added from earlier months basically albums that I didn’t get around to writing about but  still really enjoyed! So here’s the list of the albums that the songs were taken from to make the playlist! Read More

Otis Gibbs presents some great – Souvenirs of a Misspent Youth!!

Otis Gibbs’  latest release Souvenirs of a Misspent Youth has been in my rotation for about a week now and the Souvenirs of a Misspent YouthIndiana native, East Nashville resident has crafted another fine album. For my money, Gibbs is one of the best songwriters out there today and this collection of songs may be his best effort yet! Gibbs’ songwriting talents rank right up there with the best, comparisons have been made to Woody Guthrie, TomT.Hall, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt. His story-songs tell tales of everyday life. Read More

An Evening of Humor with Gabriel Iglesias (with an I not an E) and some music from Joe Crookston! (videos)

So tonight I did something that I rarely do and that is turn on the television and watch something other than sports. Well, I have to say that the reason that the TV was on in the first place was that the Phillies were playing this afternoon and after they lost and moved to like nine games under .500, I needed a laugh so I put on The Daily Show and watched Jon Stewart tear into Oliver North. After the show was over, I kept the TV on and started doing something, oh yeah, I was looking for funny stuff and I watched Monty Python's Upper Class Twit of the Year skit, which always cracks me up!! When the Python skit ended, in its usual blaze of glory, I turned my attention to the Comedy Central Special that was on TV, some very funny fat dude, or should I say "Fluffy Dude" was the headliner Gabriel Iglesias

New Music from an Old Favorite – David Wilcox – blaze!

David Wilcox IIOver the last few weeks, I’ve made reference to listening to David Wilcox’s new album blaze,  today I  listened to it again and I think it’s time i write something about the album! For me David Wilcox has the whole package, he is an intelligent and thought songwriter, a great singer and a terrific guitar player. What more could one ask for? I’ve been listening to David since the late 80s when I heard him on the radio singing and discussing the titled track of his first album “The Nightshift Watchman” Which is a song about those people, who sit in underground bunkers watching the skies for a missile attack knowing full well that if they do their job, their job and the world as we know it may be over!! You can read the lyrics here. Many of David’s eighteen releases can  be found in my music library and I feel that blaze is  one of his best albums. Read More

A Night for Musical Poetry from Phi Ochs “The Highway Man” and “Changes”!!

So tonight I’m in the mood for a little poetry and that means Phil Ochs’ version of “The Highwayman”!! Here’s a short post from about a year ago!

Phil OchsHere  are  two Phil Ochs’ songs. The first is “The Highwayman” based on the poem by Alfred Noyes, from the program “Come, Read to Me a Poem” which appeared on April 12, 1967. This sad and beautiful poem has always been a favorite, Phil did a great job putting the music to the poem and creating a captivating and sad song! Read More

Morning Music – “One Day” – Batdorf and Rodney – don’t we wish!

So for today’s morning music I was going to use the Jefferson Airplane’s cover of Fred Neil’s “The Other Side of this Life” but after my half sun salutations and a nice quiet yoga set on the 21 Day Yoga Challenge I thought it didn’t feel quite right! If you want, you can watch it here
Here’s a post I did a while back about the role of Batdorf and Rodney in my musical journey….. Read More

Musical Thoughts about that Parent Child Relationship (Videos)

Oliver 3As I was working along last night at Target, my thoughts drifted back to Andrew, Meaghan and little Oliver and the perilous journey that they are embarking on. We took that trip four times, well maybe we’re still on the journey, and it seems that the results so far, have been very successful! But it’s a tough trip and there are many obstacles along the way. many wrong words to say, many wrong actions to take and all you can do is try to keep them safe, try to help them develop a strong moral character. Often as my children were growing I told them, you know what’s right and what’s wrong so do the right thing! Finally love them unconditionally, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be wrong, or do things that you don’t like and at that point in time, you may not like then very much but you never stop loving them!! And beyond those things you just hope for the best! And I think we got it right so far!! Read More