Life’s Soundtrack – A Positive Run and some Americana Music from Markus Rill!

So last night after work I ran. After the run I finished my post about Steve Strongman,  I showered, went to the store, and then ate dinner.  All the while  I was thinking that I would write about the run in a few minutes. So as the minutes passed, my energy slowly slipped away and before long I was closer to sleep than coherent thoughts and writing!! Which is why I’m sitting here on Friday afternoon writing about it! I maintained a pretty fast pace (for me)  throughout the run and my pace time continues to go down. There was one time during the run that I checked my pace and it was 9:06, so I sped up a little and sure enough the pace went under 9 minutes!! Unfortunately, I could only keep up that pace for a minute or less!! My pace, however, through the first three miles was just and shade over 10 minutes per mile!! And overall I ended the four-mile run in a time of 40:19 for an average pace of 10:05. I was a tired but happy camper!!! My Rocket ShipNow I couldn’t think of or find a Prog Rock album to use as the soundtrack for the run, so I selected an Americana album that I’ve been listening to over the last few days, My Rocket Ship from Markus Rill I really like this album. It’s full of great songs, husky, gravelly vocals from Rill and some fine music from his backing band The Troublemakers. Here’s some press from Markus’ website: “If voices were highways, Markus Rill’s would be gravel … like Steve Earle, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams, Rill excels at songwriting” – PureMusic/USA “Europe’s premier Americana artist” – Rootstime/Belgium Yes, you read that last quote correctly, because… Markus.. Read More

Today in Music – 1948 – Happy Birthday, Duke Robillard!!

Duke RobillardAfter reviewing a couple of the birthday lists, that I usually check in the morning, I didn’t see any names that really caught my attention, so I decided that I’d search for any “today in jazz'” birthday sites. I found a list at All About Jazz and as I scrolled down the list there weren’t many names that I recognized (Can anyone tell me if there’s someone I should check out on the list) until I arrived at the Ds and there I saw blues guitarist Duke Robillard‘s name! Now you may say what’s a blues artist doing on a list of jazz musicians. Well that’s because Duke’s music ofttimes resides in that common ground that jazz and blues share! From Wikipedia: Read More

Today in Music – 1950s style – Two Blues Greats! Stevie Ray and Keb’ Mo’

srv OK everybody all together now – whose birthday is it today – what’s that you say?? Keb’ Mo’?? Well, you are correct. He was born in 1951 (a familiar year) but does that look like  Keb’ Mo’, at the top of this post? No it does not! This is Keb’ Mo’, Keb Mo, Of  course the other blues man who was born on this day, but in 1954, is one of the best blues rock musicians, as opposed to the acoustic blues of  Keb’ Mo’, and one of my favorites Stevie Ray Vaughan….from Wikipedia…. Read More

Night Owl Music: The Trip from The Folk Sinner to Sonny Landreth’s “Z Rider”

Sonny Landreth

Ok so Sonny Landreth is one of those musicians whose music is included in my library, but gets lost in the midst of the 18,000 plus tracks  on my iPod! But yesterday, when I paid a visit to YouTube and watched the video that closes this post. I was blown away by Landreth’s slide playing!! Words like you “doofus” and “idiot” came to the forefront of my mind, as I castigated myself for not listening to more of Sonny;s music!! You maybe asking yourself, now., how did he get around to listening to Sonny Landreth yesterday?? Wasn’t he listening to Lee Harvey Osmond’s The Folk Sinner???? Well, even if you didn’t pose that question to yourself, I’m going to tell you the answer anyway!! Read More

Burnt Belief – Colin Edwin and Jon Durant

Burnt BeliefLast night when my run ended so did the soundtrack of the run The Folk Sinner from Lee Harvey Osmond. As a result,I needed some music for the cool down. I wanted something quiet something to I could zone out to, while I was recovering. I turned to an album that’s been on the iPhone for a while now Burnt Belief from the duo of Jon Durant and Colin Edwin. Jon Durant is a guitarist, a composer and also is the  executive producer of Alchemy Records, where produces recordings for internationally acclaimed artists in his small Massachusetts-based studio. Colin Edwin is a bassist and a current member of the group Porcupine Tree. I liked what I heard and this morning I decided to give the whole album another listen as I continued to work on that Waterfront Development project. Read More

“Into the Night” with “Shades of Gray” from Robert Earl Keen!!

REK Well as I sat here thinking about what to listen to or what to write about, I decided to take a little spin on the iPod. I switched it to genres, then folk and then stood there spinning the wheel right and left as I counted to 30, because that;s today’s date, you see! When I looked at the wheel, it had spun right to Robert Earl Keen, Jr. So then I moved on up to the songs and spun the  wheel another 9 times for the month of September that comes to an end tonight. Boy, doesn’t it seem like we were just celebrating Labor Day and the start of school and now we’ve moved on to Halloween, and the Christmas lights are out at Target!!! The other night I was told to remind all the shoppers that if you want outdoor lights you better get them early because Target only get two shipments, so they go quickly and don’t forget to get a Target Red Card (either credit or debit) you’ll get an additional 5% off every purchase, everyday and Target will also donate money to the school of your choice!! I think our store has donated over $17.000 to one school in our area this year!! You’ll also get things like free shipping from Target.com!! If you come into our store in Mt Laurel and sign up tell them the “old man in the market” told you about it!! Read More