Morning Music – March 18, 2014 from Jerry Jeff and John Sebastian!!

Hill Country RainOk so when I started this blog, my idea for morning music was to play something that made me happy! Kinda’ a morning pick me up that we all need! So here we go – after reading and listening to both John Sebastian and Jerry Jeff the other day, I started to think about songs that they sing that put me in a good mood! Here’s three of then, two from Jerry Jeff and one from John Sebastian – with Jerry Jeff we’ll dance in the Hill Country Rain and then ride down that road with Curly and Lil because you know – “It’s good times when they get here….” and the John Sebastian is gonna’ painted rainbows all over your blues!! Have a good day y’all!! Read More

2014 “Texassippi” Blues from Jim Suhler – Panther Burn!!

When I first started to listen to Jim Suhler’s latest release Panther Burn, I didn’t think that I had ever hard his guitar or music before. And while I may have never heard his music with his group The Monkey Beats, there’s a good chance I’ve heard his guitar, because since 1999 he has been the lead guitarist for George Thorogood & The Destroyer’s (formerly the Delaware Destroyers, so they are big in the Delaware Valley). In addition, he appeared on Elvin Bishop’s 2008 release The Blues Rolls On, which is included in my music library.And after co-producing Texas-Based Blues Band, Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch’ 2010 release entitled Upside Your Head, which received widespread acclaim in the Blues genre, he contributed consulting/performance work on Hoodoo Witch’s second album entitled “Tell You What”, which was released on March 19, 2013 and is also in my library and was reviewed by Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries here (and I do see the name Suhler in the post!) The album was nominated by “Blues Blast” magazine for Best Blues Rock Album. So I missed this Dallas, Texas native even though he has appeared on stage with  Les Paul, James Cotton, Hank Williams,Jr., Duke Robillard, Peter Wolf, Willie Nelson, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Pinetop Perkins, Lazy Lester, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Son Seals, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Rivers, Joe Bonamassa, Cross Canadian Ragweed and others Damn I even missed him in 2002, when he fulfilled a lifelong dream by playing two shows with AC/DC during their Stiff Upper Lip Tour,in Helsinki, Finland and Hamburg, Germany.(just kidding) BUT after listening to Panther Burn I will not miss his music anymore!! This may be my favorite blues album of the year! It’s got everything I like good vocals, catchy songs, a little harp from the Thunderbirds Kim Wilson and some mighty good organ from  I believe Tim Alexander?! Until  today I would have said “Across the Brazos” was my favorite track on the album, but today “Leave My Blues Behind” really caught my attention and the musical interplay between the vocals, the organ and Jim’s guitar was just great! While “Between Midnight and Day:, “Dinosaur Wine” and “Worldwide Hoodoo” all made me stop and take notice of them, too!! Hell once again  I am going to say that this album is great first track to the last!!! Jim had a little help from his friends on Panther Burn. Those who made appearances include:Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Asleep At The Wheel’s Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland and Jason Elmore!! So Check Him, the boys and girl out!! As for me, there’s once again a large back catalog to  check out! I think I’ll start with Tijuana Bible or maybe Bad Juju which was produced by the legendary Jim Gaines!! Links Artist Website MySpace WikipediaI did say my favorite track was “Panther Burn”, right? Because of the great slide guitar.I guess it’s the song that I’m currently listening to, again! Here’s “Panther Burn”! Read More

New Age – Healing Music from Michael Brant DeMaria – The Maiden of Stonehenge!

The Maiden of Stonehenge
Michael Brant DeMaria

So the other day I was browsing through the Zone Music Reporter’s New Age Top 100 Radio Air Play chart and I spotted down at #87 an interesting looking album titled The Maiden of Stonehenge by Michael Brant DeMaria. Not knowing anything more about the album, than that it had both an interesting title and a cool cover (there I go again dating myself). I downloaded it on to the iPhone and gave it a listen. As soon as I heard the flute on the first track “Lost Village” I knew that I was going to like the album and I was very, very correct!! Read More

This Day in Music – March 17, 1944 – “Happy Birthday John B Sebastian!”

J S WoodstockSo what can you say about John Sebastian. He had a great run with the Lovin’ Spoonful lots of great hits  like: “Do You Believe in Magic”, “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?”, “Nashville Cats” and many more. He also had a good solo career. Yet most younger people know him for one song  the theme song to, “Welcome Back Kotter! “Anyway, two of my favorite John Sebastian albums are his first self-titled solo album and Cheapo-cheapo Productions Presents John Sebastian.  Lots of good stuff on both albums. Some of my favorites from John B Sebastian include: “Red Eye Express”, Magical Connections”, “She’s a Lady” and  “Rainbows All Over Your Blues”. My favorite track on Cheapo- Cheapo is “Younger Generation” a couple of Spoonful songs “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind” and “Nashville Cats” appear on the album. Visiting Wikipedia I see that John: Read More

Archives:Life’s Soundtracks:The run was a struggle but the music from Day Six was great!

Originally Posted: March 24, 2013 at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries – Please Note my running and music listening are linked so sometimes you have to put up with the running info to get to the music, or then again you can just scroll past it!!

Day sixSo some days you really look forward to your run, you start, you feel good and the run goes very smoothly. Then there are other days, well, they don’t go as well. Saturdays area often a slow day for me. I work all day at Lippincott and then at Target not getting done until 11:15 plus! Yesterday the day went from 7:15 to 11:15, so overall today this 61 year-old body was moving kind of slow! So this afternoon when I just felt like taking a nap I did some kundalini yoga trying to wake me up, and it worked so I got motivated enough to run, went out and discovered that it was a lot colder and windy than I thought it was, anyway, I put on another layer of clothes and set out. I had created a new four mile course and the start looped around a little, so that, after just a little bit a left turn would have led me back home, which was where I really wanted to go or a right turn would set me on my way into the fourteen mile an hour wind and the first leg of my four mile run. Now the only thing good about heading into the wind on the first two miles of a run is that the wind is at your back on the way back!! That’s what happened and really the only reason that I was able to finish the run! The other thing that got me through the run was the music, as always! The music was from a prog rock band Day Six and their album The Grand Design. So with the wind at my back for half of the run, I made it through with an overall pace of about 10:05 per mile, so overall it was not a bad run! Read More

That PI Day in Music 3.14.34 – “The Queen of the Organ” – Shirley Scott was born!!

So the other morning, after I woke up from the crash that was a result of having had virtually no sleep the night before, as we waited for the birth of grandson,Oliver, I was looking at the jazz birthdays. Now if you remember, the night before I had posted about saxophonist Jeff Hackworth, and how his sax sounds like Stanley Turrentine and how like Stanley, Jeff often plays in an organ trio setting and how I thought that was neat because Stanley had played so often with Jimmy Smith. Well what the un-jazz educated Edward didn’t know was that in the 1960s Stanley Turrentine was married to and recorded a series of albums with jazz-organist Shirley Scott! (They divorced in 1969) From AllMusic: Read More

This Day in Music – March 16, 1942 – Happy Birthday, Jerry Jeff Walker!!

JJW!So on this day in 1942 in Oneonta, NY, one Ronald Clyde Crosby, aka Jacky Jack, and more well-known as Jerry Jeff Walker was born!! Jerry Jeff’s music has been a part of the musical soundtrack of my life since the late 1960s. And his music has been with me as I walked across the campus of the University of Florida singing “High Hill Country Rain”, to rocking my children to sleep to “Mr Bojangles”, to sending my son’s best friend into hysterics over “Pissin’ in the Wind” and of course “Redneck Mother” is always just a moment away in that jukebox in my head! The first few songs on his album Navajo Rug can for some reason always pull me out of a bad mood. His music introduced me to songwriters like Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Bill Staines and the great Chris Wall as well as a myriad of other Texas musicians!! Ok so I could go on and on about Jerry Jeff but Jerry Jeff over the years has spread the celebration of his birthday over three days, performing concerts in Luckenbach and in Austin, so I think that it’s only fitting that I at least spread it over at least ONE day. So with that thought in mind, I will post Jerry Jeff songs throughout the day today. I can hear my wife now, oh joy! NOT! Read More

Progressive Metal from NYC’s – Infinite Spectrum – Misguided

Misguided
Infinite Spectrum

Infinite Spectrum is a progressive metal band from New York City formed by two college students bass payer Alex Repetti and guitarist Alex Raybin soon after they met they began collaborating on musical tracks that laid the foundation for their debut album. After the instrumental tracks had been composed and recorded singer and composer Will Severin joined the party and wrote and recorded the vocals for their debut album Misguided. Everything was assembled and mixed by Grammy Award winning engineer, Chris Theis and the album was released in 2012! According to ProgArchves: Read More