Monthly Archives: June 2019

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The forthcoming album release, This Is The Town: A Tribute to Nilsson (Volume 2), out June 21 on Royal Potato Family, celebrates the songs of the legendary Harry Nilsson with performances by Cheap Trick, Martha Wainwright, Lauren Ruth Ward and more. Throughout this captivating set, defying expectations is a continuous theme. The 14 kindred spirits of Nilsson assembled on the collection are as stellar as they are varied in their art, each underscoring different facets of his songwriting. A follow-up to the initial This Is The Town tribute released by Royal Potato Family in 2014, Volume 2 once again finds producer Kenny Siegal at the helm, capturing the album’s vibrant and diverse performances at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, NY.

Kicking things off in grand fashion is Mikaela Davis’s rendition of “Take 54,” the opening cut from Nilsson’s 1972 release, Son of Schmilsson. Davis—a classically trained harpist—injects her own brand of feminist swagger, turning the masculine bravado of the original inside out. Equally intriguing is Martha Wainwright’s take on “Daddy’s Song”—a standout that is particularly revealing in its approach. Here Wainwright opts to slow the tempo and strip away the ’60s psychedelia of the original to reveal the heartbreak of abandon ensconced within Nilsson’s lyrics. It serves as a reminder that even though Nilsson was a pop artist, he was always conscious of the depths of his emotions and surroundings; being one-part troubled troubadour, one-part song-and-dance-man never seemed in conflict.

Legendary rockers Cheap Trick get down and dirty with raucous guitars that emanate manic fuzz on their reading of “Ambush.” Vocalist Robin Zander’s sublime vocals are unparalleled in their expression of the anxieties of war. But the tension is far from bombast, as the performance does everything it can to convey Nilsson’s wry wit, something he was able to masterfully weave into even the most contentious of topics. Elsewhere, indie rockers Invisible Familiars add swirling synths and a percussive march to “Old Forgotten Soldier,” while Valley Queen uncovers a darker, more haunting depth in the Nilsson hit “I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | My Morning Jacket is proud to announce the release of THE TENNESSEE FIRE: DELUXE EDITION, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their now-classic debut album. The newly expanded edition includes all 16 original tracks alongside 16 previously unreleased and unheard, lost songs, demo outtakes, alternate versions, and more. THE TENNESSEE FIRE: DELUXE EDITION arrives via Darla Records on August 2, 2019. You can pre-order the record here.

Furthermore, My Morning Jacket will commemorate the momentous occasion with “My Morning Jacket Presents: A Tennessee Fire 20th Anniversary Celebration,” a one-night-only live event set for Friday, August 9 at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY where the band will perform the album in its entirety, along with songs from that era. A special pre-sale for all ticket holders for the band’s performance at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on August 10 will begin on Thursday, June 13 at 12pm local and ending Sunday, June 16 at 10pm local. Any remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, June 17 at 12pm local. For complete details on tickets and VIP packages, please visit www.mymorningjacket.com/events.

“Wow. I cannot believe it has now been over 20 years since we recorded THE TENNESSEE FIRE on my cousin John’s grandparents farm out in Shelbyville, KY in a little studio called “Above the Cadillac,” says James. “What a life changing time that was for me — a cosmic door opening to a new universe, thanks to the generosity of family and the spirits of music and connection, I have been so lucky to encounter. We tried to do as many fucked up things as we could that we loved and hoped folks would enjoy. We laughed a lot and we cried some too, ha. We are so grateful and humble that people are still enjoying it so many years later, and we also really love playing these songs live still after all these years, ha ha ha.”

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“My first experience with vinyl was when I was about 7 or 8 and I saw that my Mom had a turntable.”

“In movies and on TV I’d seen DJs using turntables to scratch the records, and I asked my Mom if she could pull her record player out, and the minute she put the first record on I started scratching and she completely lost it and was like, “that damages them!”

I was so confused and so she sat me down and taught me how turntables worked and showed me a different way to listen to music with vinyl. We spent the whole day going through so many old gospel records. Then when I was around 13 I bought my first records: Calvin Harris, 18 Months and Mumford and Sons, Babel were among the first few.

My relationship with vinyl has only grown. I’m regularly digging through the $1 bins at record stores and finding the most obscure record they have—it just blows my mind that a song can be lost, and then someone can rediscover it.

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Talk about your unholy alliances. Michael McDonald and The Doobie Brothers? If you’re a fan of neither, it can only be compared to a disastrous corporate merger (remember AOL and Time Warner?) or, if you’re really a hater, the Hitler-Stalin Pact.

Ah, but if you’re a proud Yacht Rock captain, their coupling was a dream come true–the McDoobies’ first album, 1976’s Takin’ It to the Streets, produced not one but two smooth rock classics in the form of the title cut and “It Keeps You Runnin’.”

It was ace guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter who recommended fellow Steely Dan alum McDonald to the Doobs when Tom Johnston took sick with stomach ulcers (the result, no doubt, of massive guilt), so blame the stink on the Skunk if you want. But no matter where you stand on the band, there’s no denying that Mc’D’s addition gave the Doobie Brothers a new lease on life–their previous LP, 1975’s Stampede, included only one hit, and it was a cover. Despite continuing album sales, the Doobie Formula was growing stale, and the band’s quantum leap into easy listening kept them on FM radio.

Takin’ It to the Streets didn’t win the Brothers any critical love; The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau, for one, famously dismissed it with the words, “You can lead a Doobie to the studio but you can’t make him think.” Oddly, Christgau seems not to have noticed the addition of McDonald and the band’s radical turn towards blue-eyed soul. No fan of either artist, he might have noted that their union was a laudatory thing, insofar as having them in the same place made it easier to keep an eye on both of them.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “He was twelve years old and he had a guitar. He would go around telling everybody that he was going to be a rock-and-roll star. I was eleven and I believed him.” —Louis Kemp

Once, he was just Bobby Zimmerman. It was a long time ago. 1953 to be exact, but that’s how long Louis Kemp’s memories of the man we all know as Bob Dylan reach back. Bobby and Louie, the “boys from the North Country,” were just kids when they met at summer camp in Northern Wisconsin, both from middle class Jewish families from Northern Minnesota. Kemp’s, Dylan And Me: 50 Years Of Adventures, starts there. Not in Greenwich Village, nor at Newport, but as kids, and there’s a trove of never-before-told stories that predate the success that both men went onto enjoy—Louie, having taken over his dad’s fish business, and well, Zimmerman, as the most influential music maker in history.

Kemp’s memoir gives with the goods, underscoring the funny and deeply affectionate history of a five decade-long friendship with wild adventures, soul searching conversation, musical milestones, and enduring comradery straight on up to the mid-seventies, when Dylan looked to Kemp to produce the now-legendary, Rolling Thunder Revue, (1975-76). Featuring the man himself, along with folks like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, poet Allen Ginsberg, Ronee Blakley, as well as musician/ novelist/ humorist/ politician, Kinky Friedman, who also contributed to Dylan And Me, the tour has been immortalized in a documentary, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, which will coincide with the presale of Dylan And Me, and premiere on Netflix, as well as in select theatres.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | When you think of historic Chicago blues and R&B labels, Chess, Vee-Jay, Brunswick, and Delmark probably first come to mind. However, the city’s famous Black music scene spawned many indie labels, and Bea & Baby Records ranks among the very best of them. Founded by the ever-colorful Chicago entrepreneur Narvel “Cadillac Baby” Eatmon, Bea & Baby Records — along with its subsidiaries and subsidiary labels Key, Keyhole, Miss and Ronald — put out an impressive selection of blues, gospel, doo-wop, soul, hip-hop, and comedy releases between 1959-1989.

Now, a comprehensive retrospective, Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection, is set for release July 19, 2019 by Chicago-based blues label Earwig Music Company. The project has long been a labor of love for Earwig owner Michael Robert Frank. Frank first met Cadillac Baby in the early ’70s and when they met up again in the late ’80s, Cadillac Baby wanted to get back into music after being away from the business for over 15 years. Despite ailing health, he was still “feisty and cantankerous, and still hustling,” according to Frank. “He was buying and selling used hubcaps, a few used tires, candy and sundries, and an occasional 45 record.” The two decided to co-produce a rising 17-year-old hip-hop singer, Richard Davenport (who went by the name 3D). Sadly, both Cadillac Baby and Davenport died as the project was about to launch; however, 3D’s two tunes will now be released on this collection.

Earwig ended up purchasing Cadillac Baby’s labels from his widow because Frank was “concerned the Bea & Baby’s varied catalog and Cadillac Baby’s history might be lost or merely a footnote in music history.” On his journey to uncover and share Cadillac Baby’s captivating story and musical legacy, Frank says that he “started thinking about a box set of the entire label’s music catalog, not just the blues recordings” was the right way to go.

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Hailing from Madrid, Spain, alternative trio Nightcars craft a nostalgic mix of ’80s Top 40 and modern electro rock. The band name is derived from the song “Running with the Night” by Lionel Richie, which is clearly a touchstone for their smooth, moody, and melodic sound.

Nightcars’ latest single “Disappear,” is one of more uplifting cuts from their forthcoming and yet to be titled EP due in stores this year. Regarding the thematic nature of the track, band spearhead Nick Marchena remarks, “I think that all of us have had that urge to disappear like a ghost, even if it is for a little while.”

“The idea itself is attractive and fun, if we ignore responsibilities and the impact it can have on your loved ones. We all had some days that we want to drop it all, and for some of us, that idea in our heads comes in the form of a cheerful soundtrack.”

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings is pleased to announce the release of Live At Woodstock, capturing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s full, hour-long performance from the historic festival. Out August 2nd, Live At Woodstock will be available as a 2-LP vinyl set, housed in a gatefold jacket, as well as on CD and digital platforms (including hi-res 96/24). 

In August of 1969, as they took the stage at Woodstock, Creedence Clearwater Revival were at the peak of an incomparably prolific year, and on the verge of becoming one of the biggest bands in the world. Their Southern-steeped sound (which brazenly stood out from the reigning psychedelia of the day) was a mainstay on the airwaves, thanks to hit singles “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and “Green River,” while the band was playing shows to packed crowds across North America. Just eight months earlier, John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook released their second LP, Bayou Country, following the modest success of their 1968 self-titled debut. By late spring, the album had broken into the Billboard Top Ten. Astonishingly, the band would release two more Top Ten albums before the end of 1969: Green River, which hit stores just a few weeks before Woodstock (and became their first Number One record), followed by Willy and the Poor Boys, in November.

Creedence were slotted for a prime Saturday night spot at Woodstock, following the Grateful Dead. Highly in demand, the band had headlined many of the larger festivals that summer, including the Atlantic City Pop Festival, the Newport Pop Festival in Northridge, CA, as well as main stages in Atlanta and Denver. To many artists, the three-day concert in Upstate New York was seemingly just another stop on the tour; little did they know that Woodstock would become a defining moment in pop-culture history. Creedence took the stage later than planned, in the wake of an extra-long set by the Dead. It was after midnight on Sunday, August 17th, and many of the attendees had retired to their tents. CCR declined to be included in the 1970 documentary Woodstock and the film’s soundtrack album, despite a searing performance on stage. Unfortunately, because of their absence from the film and soundtrack, it is easy to forget that CCR was a top-billed act at Woodstock—let alone even at the festival.

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I went to Carolina in my mind once. It left me sitting by the side of the highway outside Richmond, Virginia. I probably should have been checked out by a mechanic before I left.

I’ve been reading David Browne’s Fire and Rain, which purports to tell the “lost story of 1970,” and he spends a lot of time talking about James Taylor. 1970 was the year Sweet Baby James rocketed Taylor to stardom, but what I simply cannot fathom is why. Taylor was (is) the archetype of the sensitive singer-songwriter, a folk rocker of modest gifts and zero charisma, the kind of guy who performs live while sitting on a chair.

Browne quotes some Taylor fans circa 1970 at Duke University, and their praise is… underwhelming. “It’s nice, relaxing stuff,” said one. “You don’t get too excited about it.” And from such stuff are musical legends made.

In troth, Taylor’s rise to popularity isn’t that hard to figure out. By 1970 the Love, Drugs and Protest Generation was burned out–on spooky acid trips, Charles Manson, My Lai, you name it–and acid rock was the last thing they wanted to hear. Taylor’s music was the perfect palliative for the ugly end of the sixties–his gentle voice, a harbor in the storm.

I’ve never understood why anyone would want to own a James Taylor record, but if you really must have one I suppose you’d be best of going for 1976’s Greatest Hits. It includes Taylor’s best known early songs–the truly indispensable “Fire and Rain,” the escapist tracks “Carolina in My Mind,” “Country Road,” and “Mexico,” and where else are you going to find them in one place? Unfortunately, it also includes such negligible rubbish as “Shower the People” and the criminally insipid “You’ve Got a Friend.” Talk about your devil’s bargains.

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Dynamic, Florida-based trio Thoughts literally just graduated high school and have perfectly captured the carefree, breezy vibe of the definitive summer before adulthood.

Simmering with nostalgia, The Last Summer is a joyous and soulful collection of songs that blend various musical strains into an impressively unique class of pop rock. TVD is pleased to present the new LP in its entirety for your listening pleasure.

Thoughts have been likened to lovechild of The Strokes and Jamiroquai, equal parts shimmering soul and indie grit, with rhapsodic reviews bubbling up from the blogosphere and a live show that’s created an avid following around their home turf. The band is currently planning a mini tour run in October through Philly, New York City, and Boston with plans to relocate from the Gulf Coast to Philly permanently by the end of the year. Be sure to stay connected with their show schedule and pick up the new LP to soak up the sunny nostalgic vibes forevermore.