VIA PRESS RELEASE | “It is our first truly independent release, and the first record we did entirely on our own, in our own studios with some help from friends but no outside producer or engineer,” says lead singer and songwriter David Schelzel of The Ocean Blue about the wide re-release of their first post-major label album Davy Jones’ Locker, arriving on August 25 via Korda Records.

Davy Jones’ Locker was initially released in 1999 by indie label March Records in a limited run. But that didn’t prevent the legion of faithful fans who have been following the band since their inception in 1987 from elevating the release to mythic status. PopMatters said, “The band has returned in full style with Davy Jones’ Locker… ethereal, delicate, shimmering, beautiful.” Music Box quipped, “The Ocean Blue simply makes it work by building simple, supple melodies and dreamy atmospheres that swirl and surround.”

Davy Jones’ Locker was the band’s first album after they left a successful major label run (they released three acclaimed albums on the legendary Sire Records, and another on PolyGram/Mercury) but it gave them the freedom to try new things. “It’s definitely our most eclectic and least fussy record, where we were experimenting with different musical directions, sounds, arrangements and lyrical themes,” explains David.

Playful, jangly, and gorgeously executed, the album is nestled perfectly in the band’s catalog and the alternative realm of ’80s legends like The Smiths and New Order, through the early Britpop of Blur, The Las, and The Trashcan Sinatras, while still sounding ahead of its time alongside modern compatriots like Cigarettes After Sex, Beach House, and Fontaines DC.

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Celebrating Terry Adams, born on this day in 1948. —Ed.

The music of NRBQ is one of rock ‘n’ roll’s great paradoxical pleasures. How can a band this accessible and joyous be banished to the musical fringe? It’s a true stumper. But if widespread success was denied them, the group endured and excelled through relentless bar gigs, college radio play, and via the persistent word of mouth of the converted. Their early days found them hopping labels only to be dumped after disappointing sales, but instead of quitting they smartly decided to put out their own records. 1977’s All Hopped Up was the first, and for new listeners it makes a fine introduction.

Their name originally stood for the New Rhythm and Blues Quintet. Formed by guitarist Steve Ferguson, pianist Terry Adams, drummer Tom Staley, bassist Joey Spampinato (aka Jody St. Nicholas), and vocalist Frank Gadler, they combined a stylistic eclecticism—the titular R&B, rockabilly, early Brit-invasion pop, jazz, and even more into a highly potent and easily digestible brew. But if possessive of an unusual level of diversity, constant factors were also at play. Foremost was a lighthearted sincerity regarding the love of their shared influences, but NRBQ are also one of the least egocentric bands, both musically and in terms of personality, to ever span decades of neglect.

They came together in Florida but moved to New York City where they quickly gathered steam, even playing Fillmore East, and eventually found themselves signed to Columbia Records. This resulted in a truly swell self-titled debut in ’69 that didn’t sell squat. And that’s not really a surprise; if the Q’s long-term lack of a wide following is hard to fathom, in the year of Woodstock they weren’t exactly the height of trendiness. What to make of a group that covered Eddie Cochran, Sun Ra, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and Bobby Channel’s oldies station rotation warhorse “Hey Baby” all on the same album? The high number of covers alone was a little divergent from the era’s norm of boldfaced originality.

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George Harrison, through his love for Indian music, by interjecting it into his work as a solo artist and as a member of The Beatles, and by virtue of his relationship with Ravi Shankar, was instrumental in exposing the music to the non-Western world. Another artist who has been a champion of Indian music and explored the style in his own works is John McLaughlin. Through his work with Shakti, he perhaps hasn’t been as well-known for exposing the music as for touring and recording with various configurations of Shakti. His efforts to share his enthusiasm for the music should not be diminished or underestimated. What follows are reviews of a recent reissue of a Ravi Shankar album and a brand-new Shakti album.

Ravi Shankar had been recording for nearly 20 years by the time he was part of the Shankar Family and Friends album which was released in 1974. This is the second time this century that it has been reissued. Previously, it was part of the George Harrison Collaborations CD box set in 2010. The album was produced by George Harrison and was released on his Dark Horse record label. Of course, Harrison was close friends with Shankar, studied Indian music under his tutelage, and worked on several live albums with Shankar, two of which were also film soundtracks: The Concert for Bangladesh and Ragas. This reissue is part of the new Dark Horse reissue program. It is available on limited edition orchid vinyl, was remastered by Paul Hicks and comes with a four-page insert.

Along with Harrison, who plays electric and acoustic guitars and autoharp on the release and who arranged “I Am Missing You,” other non-Indian musicians who worked on the album include Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, David Bromberg, Tom Scott, Ed Shaughnessy and many others. Owing to the eclecticism of this album, including the mixing of styles and experiments with various instruments, Paul Beaver, Vini Poncia, and Robert Margouleff play Moog synthesizer. Nearly 50 musicians contributed to this album.

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As large as it seems, the entertainment world is really pretty small. While many folks make the joke about Kevin Bacon and his six degrees of separation from anyone else in the industry, it’s quite possible because everyone in the performing arts world is really only a few steps away from anybody else.

I had my own experience with this phenomenon just a few months ago when I hosted bassist Marty Isenberg on this program to discuss his recently released album featuring jazz covers of music from Wes Anderson films. As I enjoyed his record, I noticed the vocalist who was featured on many of the tracks and whose voice served to tie the project together: Sami Stevens. So, imagine my delight when I learned that she was releasing her first full-length album, Morning, and that she would be available to speak with me on this very podcast! Coincidence, or six degrees of entertainment separation? Whatever it was that led us here, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you accept the invite to learn more about this talented performer and her new work.

Morning is an ambitious first album from any performer, and on this episode you’ll hear Sami explain the process of putting it together, but you’ll also learn more about where she’s come from and, of course, where she’s planning to go. While you’re listening, you might check your social media feeds to learn just how many degrees separate you from Sami Stevens. It’s probably fewer than you think.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

Part of what makes The Band so fascinating is they served two very different roles in rock history—first as the backing band that produced a hurricane of sound behind Bob Dylan during his epochal (and polarizing) 1966 tour, then as the purveyors of a totally original fusion of country, rock, R&B, folk, and soul music that would ultimately be labeled “Americana.” A unique designation given that The Band’s members—with the exception of drummer/ vocalist/ and mandolin player Levon Helm, an Arkansas boy—all hailed from Canada.

And Robbie Robertson—who passed away on August 9, 2023—was their leader, a role he assumed both because he became the band’s chief (and in time almost sole) songwriter and had the energy and organizational skills a laid-back Helm (the group’s original leader) constitutionally lacked. Robertson, a young Toronto guitar whiz of Native American/Canadian descent—Dylan once called him “the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who does not offend my intestinal nervousness”—was every bit as contradictory a figure as The Band itself.

He was a Canadian who created American myths, and wrote songs so tightly wound they left little room for him to show off his guitar chops. And he became a case study in the fickle nature of musical genius—after writing the immortal songs on The Band’s first two albums—1968’s seminal Music from Big Pink and 1969’s The Band—his creative wellspring slowed to a trickle; The Band’s subsequent studio albums became increasingly spotty affairs as Robertson went from writing great story songs to stilted and didactic lectures on the loss of the America of his imagining. There are great songs on the later albums, but there are far more forgettable ones.

The Band was a powerful musical outfit—its players were uniformly crack musicians who’d honed their skills touring with Arkansas rockabilly and country legend Ronnie Hawkins, who’d decided he’d sooner be a big fish in Toronto and points north than a small fry in his native America. And they boasted three incredible vocalists in piano player and sometimes drummer Richard Manuel, drummer and mandolin player Levon Helm, and bass player Rick Danko.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Multi-GRAMMY Award winner and Songwriters Hall of Fame Honoree Jason Mraz announced today We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. We Deluxe Edition., a newly remastered version of his GRAMMY-winning, RIAA-certified 4x Platinum album with 14 bonus tracks never-before-pressed on vinyl—including previously unheard demos, an unreleased song, and other rarities—in honor of the album’s 15th anniversary. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. We Deluxe Edition., offered as a 3-LP set, 2-CD set, and digitally, will be available September 22 via Atlantic/Rhino. Fans can preorder the release here.

Mraz has released a sneak peek of the exclusive offerings on the album with “Lucky (Jason’s First Draft).” The never-before-heard demo reveals the first draft of the GRAMMY-Award winning duet recorded with Colbie Caillat, which is now RIAA-certified 4x Platinum. “Lucky (Jason’s First Draft)” is streaming here, and a visualizer for the song is viewable here. In addition, the official music video for “Lucky” has been remastered in HD and can be viewed here.

Other tracks on the album include acoustic versions of the GRAMMY-winning song “Make It Mine,” fan favorites “Butterfly,” “Coyotes,” “Only Human,” “The Dynamo of Volition,” and “If It Kills Me,” as well as an unreleased demo of “Details In The Fabric” and the first “I’m Yours” demo. Fans can hear the breakthrough hit in its infancy: the now RIAA-certified 13x Platinum song set a record for the number of weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since been streamed more than 3.4 billion times, making it the #1-streamed song released by a solo artist in the 2000-2009 decade.

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There are some musical groups and performers whose music is as ubiquitous as having the lights on in a dark room, or water streaming from a kitchen faucet. Some music is more than just songs, it’s as though the words, phrases and messages are ingrained into our psyche. This might not even have anything to do with whether we like the music, or not! It’s just always there: on the radio, of course, but also in echoing hotel lobbies, in the backseat of cramped taxi cabs, in sprawling, neverending mall hallways, and yes—even the occasional elevator ride. Wherever music is, certain songs can be found.

Since 1995, no matter where you’ve gone in the world, at some point, the music of the Goo Goo Dolls has followed you around. You know the choruses and those acoustic guitar riffs almost as intimately as some of their hardcore fans do! To-date, the band has sold over 15 million records worldwide, garnered four GRAMMY® Award nominations, and they have produced nearly a dozen platinum and gold singles combined, and seized a page in the history books by achieving 16 number one and Top 10 hits. It doesn’t matter if it’s “Name,” “Long Way Down,” “Iris,” “Slide,” or “Black Balloon” those songs are our companions, and the lyrics of John Rzeznik are inspiring, especially in the right set of circumstances. The themes of resilience in the face of love, loss, and being lost strike a familiar chord with anyone who stops to listen and soak up the deeper notions that are inside of each song.

Rzeznik joins me on this episode to talk about the band’s new song, “Run All Night,” the band’s recent collaboration with O.A.R on Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” and the nationwide tour that they are currently on that will see them performing career-spanning sets at major amphitheaters across the country. So, maybe the next time you’re feeling a little low, a little bit lost, I’ll bet that—wherever you may find yourself—if you bend your ear in the right direction, you might hear John Rzeznik singing a song about staying brave and believing in yourself in the midst of life’s inevitable changes, and that’s a comfort that is much more than just listening to a good song.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

When outlaw country set to burn the Grand Ole Opry down in the early 1970s, it had as much to do with seizing the means of production (Johnny Cash was a Marxist!) as it did with the slick sounds then emanating out of Nashville.

Rebels like Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe, and Hank Williams Jr. simply wanted off the “assembly line” (Waylon’s phrase) of codified rhinestone conformity that dictated how country music was “supposed” to sound. They wanted the right to find their own producers, record their own songs, and look any goddamn way they wanted (long hair, dirty jeans, battered leather jackets). And they aimed to toss a dirty ass rock and roll spanner into the works while they were at it. It sounds almost quaint nowadays, but all they were fighting for was total artistic freedom.

Jennings was the first to hurl Molotov cocktails at Nashville’s Music Row in the form of 1973’s Lonesome, On’ry and Mean. (There were other moments, but the LP’s as good as any.) And Jennings basically wrote the manifesto with “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” in which he made it clear that outlaw country was as backwards looking—to the unadulterated music of Hank Williams and his ilk—as it was visionary. And he made the argument for change more overtly than any of his fellow revolutionaries by writing protest songs about the conflict.

He went on to produce a timeless body of work, just a taste—but what a taste—of which you’ll get on 1979’s Greatest Hits. It doesn’t have everything an outlaw music fan would want—you won’t find his take on Rodney Crowell’s “I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” his cover of Neil Young’s “Are You Ready for the Country,” or the great “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” on the comp. But it’s as good a little old sampler as I’ve ever run across, and a great place to start your love affair with the Che Guevara of Country.

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