Book 16 – Nowhere to Run – C.J. Box

Nowhere to Run is my 16th read of the year and the 10th book in Box’s Joe Pickett series, which keeps getting better and better. This books opens with Joe in his last week of temporary assignment in Baggs Wyoming. The assignment has lasted a year and Joe will be returning to his wife and family soon. But Joe goes into the mountains to investigate some strange happenings, which include camp lootings, tents being slashed, and an elk butchered before the shooters can even collect it! There was also the case of a female Olympic class runner going for a run into the woods and never coming back! On the hunt Joe runs into two twin brothers Caleb and Canish Grimm, who appear to be the men who butchered the Elk! When Joe asks for their fishing license and gives them a citation for hunting without a license their wrath is taken out on himand he barely escapes the mountain alive, but not before he potentially sees the Olympic runner……and the rest of the book revolves around finding out who the Grim Brothers are and was that really the lost runner! Read More

Mary Youngblood – Beneath the Raven Moon

Mary Youngblood – Native American Flute – Beneath the Raven Moon

So one of the other types of music that I listen to at work when background music without lyrics is needed or at times of stress is American Native Flute. My favorite artist is R. Carlos Nakai. I also listen to Robert Tree Cody and Douglas Spotted Eagle. One artist who I have listened to a little is Mary Youngblood , but the other day I downloaded onto the mp3 player her 2002 release Beneath the Raven Moon and I have a new Native American flutist to listen to! Here’s what her website says about the album which one a Grammy in 2003 Read More

Saturday Quick Pick – organissimo

So the other day I was thinking about the jazz that I listen to and the title of an older  Milt Jackson album  popped into my head Ain’t But a Few of Us Left. Which made me think, who are the new jazz artists out there making the type of jazz I like who are the younger Milt Jacksons, Jimmy Smiths and Wes Montgomerys? So I went to the Roots Music Chart for jazz and looked down the chart and there at number 16 sat an interesting band name organissimo. The album listed was Alive and Kickin’. So then I went to Rhapsody and the first album listed was Groovapdelphia. So I downloaded it onto the mp3 player and set off to visit Toms River. I was not disappointed organissimo is a jazz trio from Michigan featuring  Jim Alfredson on Hammond organ, Joe Gloss on guitar and drummer Randy Marsh. On Rhapsody they are listed as Acid Jazz but to they are just a great funky jazz trio with great organ and guitar interplay! From their website were you can find out more about the band Read More

Friday’s Forgotten Albums

So tonight I listened to some of the while maybe not forgotten, at least some vinyl albums that I haven’t listened to in a long while. First up is an album when it was released in 1970 was just called Kristofferson but by the time I bought it in 1971 it had been renamed Me and Bobby McGee (I can’t imagine why?).  Anyway, that album had a lot of songs that had been recorded by others including Janis Joplin, Ray  Price and Roger Miller and Ray Stevens but I didn’t listen to those performers (except for Joplin) so I worn this album out! What a great collection of songs,  including “To Beat the Devil”, (always a favorite), “Help Me Make it through the Night”, “Just The Other Side of Nowhere” “For the Good Times” and probably my favorite “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.   My favorite line from that song: Read More

Eric Bibb – Booker’s Guitar

Ok so, Eric Bibb is another of those artists who music I don’t have in my library simply because, say it with me now!  there’s too much music – too little time! Generally. I don’t listen to a lot of acoustic blues no Keb’ Mo’  or Reverend Gary Davis in my library, there is however, Mississippi John Hurt, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry and one of my favorite Bill Morrissey album’s is Songs of Mississippi John Hurt. Oh and I forgot my new friends Moreland and Arbuckle! Anyway yesterday after listening to some different? acoustic blues Seasick Steve I wanted to listen to something a little more standard and I had been thinking about Eric Bibb, so I download his latest album Booker’s Guitar and have really enjoyed it! Read More

Blues Wednesday Mix!

So usually on Blues Wednesday I find one artist or album and listen to it enough write a  review but today I don’t think I listened to CDs enough to know how I really feel about them! I started the day by checking Billboard’s Blues Chart and the name that jumped out was Seasick Steve (Steven Gene Wold) and his album Man From Another Time. Wold plays acoustic blues on a variety of homemade instruments and the result is well different and I think it’s going to take several listens until I know how I feel about the album in total. I did like the instrumentation on the album. Wikipedia says that three of the instruments that he plays are the: “Three-Stringed Trance Wonder”, This is a normal guitar that resembles a Fender Coronado, but with only three strings One-Stringed Diddley Bow” This is a one stringed string instrument played with a slide (He uses an old screwdriver for this purpose). It consists of a 2 foot long 2×4, with a semi-loose piece of broom wire nailed to it at both ends. It was made especially for him by James ‘Super Chikan’ Johnson. The Mississippi Drun Machine (MDM)  A small wooden box that is stomped upon, providing percussion. It is decorated with a Mississippi motorcycle license plate (“MC33583”), and a small piece of carpet. Here He is playing the diddley bow! So like I said this CD is gonna take some getting used to – I’ll let you know later what I think! So after listening to Seasick Steve, I said that I need some blues that I know! So I checked out the mp3 player and there near the bottom of the artist list sat a favorite Walter Trout and his album Unspoiled by Progress – 20 Years of Hardcore Blues. And I’ve been a fan for the last 3-4 years of those twenty, sure wish I had found him sooner! Anyway Trout is a great guitarist and I like his vocals, too so it’s a good listen all around!! I listened to the first three tracks “They Call Us The Working Class”, “Goin’ Down” and “Life in the Jungle” all great tracks! Read More

Thanks – Elektra,Vanguard and Rounder Records!

So the other day while I was looking over the catalog of Fred Neil albums on Rhapsody there was a compilation album that caught my eye,  Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra Records 1963-73. In today’s age of small and independent labels it’s easy to forget what Elektra and Vanguard Records and since 1970 Rounder Records have meant to folk music. When I look through the 100 and some tracks on the album I see many of the roots of my musical listening. Here’s a list of the artists that appear on the album that are also in my music collection: Read More