When the fall geese migration period coincides with a seasonal urge that some people have to go away
By Steven Brodsky
…you might find that it’s opportune to listen to Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going” and Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” poem.
Take notice when you next “see the geese in chevron flight” during the migration period.
Those geese may be “heading home again.”
Some of this column’s readers will be acting upon a seasonal urge to go.
Best wishes, of course, to those who will stay and to those who will go.
Posted 9-6-24
Kevin Gordon releases ‘You Can’t Hurt Me No More,’ a single from Gordon’s upcoming album ‘The In Between’ (the album will be released on September 13, 2024)
By Steven Brodsky
… Readers of this column will be among the first people to hear “You Can’t Hurt Me No More.”
Join me in wishing Kevin Gordon much success with the single and his soon-to-be-released album.
From a press release that was issued this morning:
August 20, 2024: Today, Nashville singer-songwriter and poet Kevin Gordon shared his new single “You Can’t Hurt Me No More” from his upcoming album The In Between, out on September 13, his first full-length since 2018’s acclaimed Tilt & Shine, and first since his throat cancer diagnosis.
The slow-burning, country-tinged rocker, written with Kim Richey, comes on like a fever trance. It’s a title the song’s narrator of the song hopes is true. “It’s about vulnerability,” Gordon says of the song. “You’re heartbroken, but you put on your game face out in the world, and keep preaching to yourself that you ‘are more than enough’ — then you see your ex and all that façade crumbles.”
Produced by Joe V. McMahan (Justin Townes Earle), The In Between follows Gordon’s 2018 album Tilt & Shine, which was acclaimed by the likes of Rolling Stone, NPR’s World Cafe, Paste Magazine, and Wide Open Country, and was called one of the best of its year by Nashville Scene and Premier Guitar. The New York Times, in a full profile under the headline “A Musician Or a Poet? Yes to Both,” once characterized his music as “an often harrowing tour of the back-roads South,” a theme that continues on The In Between.
Along with the album’s announcement, Gordon shared the lead single and album opener “Simple Things,” which was mixed by five-time GRAMMY Award winner Tchad Blake (Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Al Green, The Pretenders, Tom Waits), as well as previous single “Keeping My Brother Down.” Written during the pandemic about, as he puts it, “contact, that exchange of energy between me and an audience,” “Simple Things” took on new meaning when in the middle of recording the album, Gordon was diagnosed with throat cancer.
The call came between the first two recording sessions. “I knew something was up when the first scan results came back; I drove straight to New Orleans and stayed pretty much out of my mind for three days. I was terrified, and thought I would lose it completely if I sat in my house staring at the wall any longer,” recalls Gordon. “They were using words like malignant, which scared the hell out of me. Those second tracking sessions were more emotional for me, personally,” he continues. With guitars, drums, and bass completed for most tracks but vocals for only one or two, the sessions had to go on indefinite pause while Gordon underwent radiation and chemotherapy.
It took the better part of a year for doctors to certify Kevin as cancer-free. When his singing voice started to return to him, making music felt urgent and vital in a new way. “Unfortunately, nothing changed with my voice!,” he jokes. “But it was all that much sweeter on the other end. The first gig back, a short solo set broadcast live on radio, it was pretty scary, the starkness of it. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” he says. His singing on The In Between crackles and sparks with life.
Gordon received a lot of support from the East Nashville musical community in which he is held in high regard. Aaron Lee Tasjan wrote on Instagram, “All I know is KG writes the songs that inspire a lot of us. One of our finest, no doubt.” Jim Lauderdale said simply, “He’s amazing.”
Of the themes on The In Between, Kevin says, “The older I get, the more I’m thinking about what my friend Kenny Stinson called ‘all that old southern shit.’” There are songs about his early punk rock days, his family trauma, heartbreak, raising his kids in Nashville, TN, his cancer, doing the best he could and observing how others try for the same, and yes, “all that old Southern shit” is captured in The In Between, recalling Faulkner’s aphorism, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Over a half dozen albums, Gordon has been hailed by Rolling Stone who called him a “juke joint professor,” Associated Press who called his music “brilliance… mesmerizing,” and Oxford American. He’s dueted with Lucinda Williams on his recording of “Down To the Well, and his songs have been covered by Keith Richards, Irma Thomas, Levon Helm, and Todd Snider (in Hard Working Americans).
Posted 8-20-24
Joe Ely releases his new album ‘Driven to Drive’ and a music video for his single ‘Didn’t We Robbie’
By Steven Brodsky
From a press release:
August 2, 2024 – Today, GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter Joe Ely has released his new album Driven to Drive via Rack ‘Em Records / Thirty Tigers. Garnering early praise from American Songwriter, No Depression, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum and more, Driven to Drive is a collection of songs inspired by Ely’s travels from different eras of his illustrious career, which spans five decades. Along with the release, the Texas icon has shared the music video for his rollicking new single “Didn’t We Robbie.”
Directed by Matthew Esky (“The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon”), the video features never-before-seen images of Joe Ely and The Clash from Ely’s personal archive.
Posted 8-2-24
An autobiographical father-themed song
By Steven Brodsky
… that will highly resonate with many readers of this column, especially in the days leading up to Father’s Day 2024 (Sunday, June 16th), Steve Goodman’s “My Old Man”:
Clay Eals is the author of Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.
A 2017 interview that I did with Clay for this column includes discussion about “My Old Man.”
From that interview:
Many people got to know of Steve’s father, Bud, as a result of hearing the moving and biographically accurate portrayal of the father-son relationship in the song “My Old Man.” Bruce Springsteen, your book reveals, met Steve in the lobby of a West Hollywood hotel. Springsteen, in response to Steve introducing himself said, “That song about your old man – great song!” Springsteen’s relationship with his own father enters into some songs and has been an issue that he’s addressed with audiences, interviewers, and written about in his memoir, Born to Run. “My Old Man” is powerful. It’s understandable why Springsteen took notice of it and acknowledged it as he had. Please tell us about this song and why an “imperfect” first take in the recording studio resulted in the decision that no more takes were necessary.
“My Old Man” is a perfect example of the core characteristic of Steve’s songwriting – specificity that becomes universal. In painting this detailed picture of the relationship he had with his father, Steve allowed anyone listening to the song to identify with it.
Ray Frank, a singer/guitarist who connected with Steve in his early performing years, put it well: “It’s a perfectly done story song, a portrait that with such concision points to so much about a person’s life and what that life meant to somebody else. The genius is that you feel that way about your old man, I feel that way about my old man, and everybody does. He was able to talk about the conflicts between them as well as appreciate him. What genius!”
Obviously, the song was intensely personal for Steve, and he recorded it so soon after he wrote it that in the studio, in the middle of the final verse, at the point where he was about to describe the first time he cried over his father’s death, he broke down and couldn’t continue singing. But he kept strumming softly, and six measures later he finished the song.
“That’s take one and take last,” he said later. “I just went in there and sang it, and somethin’ aired out there. … We’re human, that’s how it goes. That’s the way the eggs look sometimes. Sometimes they have little spots on them. I can’t help it. I can’t help thinkin’ that Venus had a couple of pimples, y’know. I’m not making any comparisons. I’m just sayin’ that anything that’s really good to me has something about it that’s just a little askance so that you can see the rest of it.”
The entire interview with Clay Eals is posted at: A Conversation With Clay Eals, Author of ‘Steve Goodman: Facing the Music’ – delcoculturevultures.com.
Posted 6-7-24
He ran scared
By Steven Brodsky
… but the final line of the song that arrived on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart 63 years ago on June 5, 1961 reveals that his (the protagonist’s) fears were seemingly ungrounded: “You turned around and walked away with me.”
That song, written and recorded by Roy Orbison:
Scary, indeed, is that 63 years have gone by!
Posted 6-5-24
With the Memorial Day weekend behind us
By Steven Brodsky
… summer is unofficially underway, and people are experiencing arisings of that summer feeling!
“That Summer Feeling,” written and recorded by Jonathan Richman:
Posted 5-28-24
The video for K.T. Oslin’s ‘Hold Me’
By Steven Brodsky
… is embedded here today in commemoration of the birthday of three-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter K.T. Oslin.
K.T. Oslin was born on May 15, 1942.
‘Hold Me” was released on a single in 1988.
K.T. Oslin passed away on December 21, 2020 age 78.
Posted 5-15-24
Bob Dylan’s ‘Ain’t No Man Righteous, No Not One’
By Steven Brodsky
…was recorded on May 3, 1979, 45 years ago.
Bob Dylan wrote the biblically congruent “Ain’t No Man Righteous, No Not One” (read Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, and the entire Bible).
Recorded at a November 16, 1979 Bob Dylan concert:
You’ll find the song’s lyrics at: Ain’t No Man Righteous, No Not One | The Official Bob Dylan Site.
Posted 5-3-24
‘Magnolia Mother’s Love’
By Steven Brodsky
Photo by Steven Brodsky
Many of this column’s readers who were fortunate to have been graced by “mother’s tender love” will recall that special kind of love when listening to Billy Joe Shaver’s “Magnolia Mother’s Love” (the lyrics are autobiographical).
Billy Joe Shaver Magnolia Mother’s Love (youtube.com)
Mother’s Day arrives on Sunday, May 12, 2024.
Posted 4-26-24
‘Tennessee Whiskey’ (with no ensuing hangover)
By Steven Brodsky
… for us to enjoy on the 46th birthday of Chris Stapleton:
Chris Stapleton was born in Kentucky on April 15, 1978.
Happy birthday wishes go out to Chris Stapleton!
Posted 4-15-24
Enjoy the evening of April 6, 2024
By Steven Brodsky
… an “American Saturday Night”!
Posted 4-6-24
Jelly Roll’s (Jason DeFord’s) opening statement at a Senate committee hearing
By Steven Brodsky
Thank you, Jelly Roll!
Posted 1-12-24
In tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett
By Steven Brodsky
… I’m pleased to share links to a nearly one-hour phone interview that Clay Eals did with Jimmy Buffett on October 26, 2000 for Clay’s book Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.
From The Paul Leslie Hour:
A Never-Before-Heard Interview with Jimmy Buffett – Part 1 of 3 – YouTube
A Never-Before-Heard Interview with Jimmy Buffett – Part 2 of 3 – YouTube
A Never-Before-Heard Interview with Jimmy Buffett – Part 3 of 3 – YouTube
ABOUT – THE PAUL LESLIE HOUR
A 2017 Entertainment, Culture and More interview with Clay Eals is posted at: A Conversation With Clay Eals, Author of ‘Steve Goodman: Facing the Music’ – delcoculturevultures.com.
Posted 9-13-23
Blues running the game
By Steven Brodsky
… many people have experienced that at some point(s) in their lives.
Jackson C. Frank experienced the blues and other painful challenges in extremis.
He was last referenced here in August 2019; too long ago.
Prompted by an admirable cover of the Jackson C. Frank-penned song “Blues Run the Game” that aired yesterday on a public radio station, I’m sharing this link: Blues Run the Game (2001 – Remaster) – YouTube.
Only one official album by Jackson C. Frank was released during Frank’s lifetime. It came out in 1965. That eponymous album was produced by Paul Simon.
Posted 1-23-23
‘And he did not know how well he sang; it just made him whole.’
By Steven Brodsky
… That man made whole was Mr. Tanner, the fictional character of this Harry Chapin song: Harry Chapin – Mr. Tanner – YouTube.
Harry Chapin was inspired to write the song after he read this New York Times review that was published on February 17, 1972: Tubridy, a Bass‐Baritone, Performs in ai Recital Here – The New York Times (nytimes.com).
Familiarity with the song ought to be a prerequisite for reviewing the arts.
This is being posted on Harry Chapin’s birthday.
Harry Chapin was born on December 7, 1942. (He passed away on July 16, 1981 at age 38 as the result of a car accident, while en route to perform a benefit concert.)
If Harry Chapin were alive today, he’d be 80 years old.
I never interviewed Harry Chapin, though I did long-form radio interviews that aired live with two immediate family members of his and with the person who had been Harry Chapin’s best friend.
Had I interviewed Harry Chapin, would certainly have asked him about “Mr. Tanner” and would have thanked him for his humanitarian efforts.
Harry Chapin accomplished much in the short life he had; he made the world “a better place to be” for many people.
Posted 12-7-22
Let’s go to a parking lot
By Steven Brodsky
… To take us there, “Out In The Parking Lot,” written by Guy Clark and Darrell Scott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58rrs7Wvdjo&ab_channel=GuyClark-Topic.
This post is dedicated to those who will be in similar parking lots in the coming months, including songwriters and other artists who will be among them.
Visit https://delcoculturevultures.com/2022/02/23/attention-fans-of-the-music-of-guy-clark-townes-van-zandt-and-susanna-clark/ for more about Guy Clark.
Posted 7-15-22
A Conversation With April Verch
By Steven Brodsky
April Verch is one of the most admired fiddlers worldwide. It’s not only extraordinary fiddle playing that endears her to fans, however. It’s also her stepdancing, singing, music composition and lyric writing, and a unique and wonderful artistic expression that flavors the various traditional fiddle music styles that she performs and records.
April had prodigious talent with the fiddle at an early age. At an even younger age, she demonstrated remarkable ability in stepdancing. Her talent continued to grow and brought her recognition in her native Ottawa Valley, Canada and later on far beyond. In 1997 she won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, her performance with five other fiddlers in a segment that presented Canadian fiddle music was broadcast to millions of viewers. She has performed in many countries, and is a concert and festival favorite. In the greater Philadelphia region, April performed last year at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival. She received a rousing reception. Last month, April performed at the Lansdowne Folk Club. Some of our readers were in attendance; they thoroughly enjoyed the concert.
April, you were 3 years old when you began stepdancing. At age 6 you started learning to play the fiddle. What was going on in your life and surroundings that contributed to those learning choices?
My parents are both fans of our local (Ottawa Valley) music and dance traditions. I grew up attending square dances, festivals and jamborees with them and listening to my dad’s country band practice. My older sister, Tawnya, was taking stepdancing lessons and I wanted to do everything she did, so I started taking stepdancing lessons at the age of 3. We took lessons from a local teacher, Buster Brown, who taught the style with his wife Pauline 5 days a week in different communities around the Ottawa Valley.
I’ve heard that you wanted to take up the fiddle earlier. Why didn’t you do so?
We were dancing to fiddle music and I was drawn to it, so I decided I wanted to play fiddle, too. I think I also liked the fact that every time there was fiddle music people were happy and having a good time. I believe I decided when I was 3 that I wanted a fiddle, but my parents didn’t really think I knew what I wanted for sure, and they were also worried that I wouldn’t have time and attention to practice both fiddle and dance, so I had to wait until I was 6 for my first fiddle. It was my birthday present. I think I had finally bugged them long enough at that point that they figured it wasn’t something that was going to pass!
You sometimes stepdance and play fiddle concurrently. When did you first start doing this?
When I was competing in Ontario fiddle and stepdancing competitions as a young girl, which we often did, though it was more about the social gathering than the actual “contest,” I saw a woman by the name of Cindy Thompson fiddle and stepdance at the same time. I don’t know exactly how old I was, maybe 9 or 10, and I was blown away. I figured “if she can do it, I can do it!” So I started working on it on my own and gradually taught myself to combine the two.
The opening track on The April Verch Anthology CD is “Canadian Reel Medley: Trip to Windsor, Back Up and Push, Dusty Miller, Woodchoppers Breakdown.” How old were you when this was recorded?
This track starts with an old recording from the late 1980s (I was around 10 years old at the time) and then it melds into a recording of me playing the same tune from a CD entitled Verchuosity which was released on Rounder Records in 2001.
What were the circumstances?
My dad and my sister and I had gone to play on CHIP radio in Fort-Coulonge, Quebec. It was a station we listened to a lot.—They played a lot of old country music and a lot of local artists. One of the hosts at the time was Red Bennett, and we had met him at a few events and he had invited us to come and play live on his show.
What do you recall about the experience?
It was my first live radio experience and I was pretty excited! We played a few tunes and he interviewed us in between.
Please talk about what is to be heard on the track.
The track starts with Red asking me about what we were going to play next and I say something like “some of my favorites, maybe yours too, eh?” I sound like I’m trying to be very grown up but really I just sound like a kid who’s thrilled to be playing on live radio. And then I tear into a tune much too fast, which I think a lot of kids do—tend to play too quickly.… So when it melds into the “current day” version of the same tune, the pace slows considerably to where the tune can groove a bit more!
The anthology CD allowed you to choose from tracks that were on 10 of your previously released recordings. What specific memories arose when you revisited some of the songs selected for inclusion on the CD?
It was amazing to listen back to each recording, because each one reminded me of a different phase of my life and my career. Remembering not just who was in the band or the studio at that time, but what was happening in my life, what my hopes and dreams were for that recording… For me personally, listening back was like seeing snapshots in a photo album.
Please tell us about the current members of your band.
Not a day goes by that I do not feel extremely grateful to have such amazing bandmates. Cody Walters plays bass and clawhammer banjo. He resides in Asheville, NC. And from Boston, MA, Alex Rubin joins us on guitar. Both Cody and Alex also contribute vocals. They are fantastic musicians and really wonderful human beings to hang out with offstage as well. I have tremendous respect for them.
You started full-time touring in 2000. Please tell us about several of your most memorable performance-related experiences.
Performing in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver was definitely a highlight and a huge production. I feel so fortunate to be able to play in so many different parts of the world and also so many different types of venues and events. Each one is different and special in its own way, and the the most memorable experiences for me as a performer come from the connections that we make in sharing our music with an audience. Hearing their stories after the show, seeing their faces and reactions. That’s what means the most. That can happen in a tiny space of a big hall, but it’s what sticks with me always.
How do you occupy your time while traveling to performance venues?
In all honesty, I spend almost all of my time working on the “business” aspect of my career when we are in the van, at the hotel, or between tours. I do have hobbies too, but right now my focus is mostly on doing what I can to keep us touring and doing what we love, and I’m okay with that, even if it’s sometimes a heavy load to keep up with. I feel fortunate to be able to do it.
You perform a variety of traditional fiddle styles. How are some of them similar to one another and how are they different?
A lot of the differences lie in the bowing patterns and ornamentation. Some styles are more articulate while others use longer bows and more notes slurred together. The ornamentation in the left hand also differs from style to style. In the fiddle styles that I play, the thing that ties them all together in my mind is that they are intended for dancing. They have a driving rhythm and how you achieve the dance groove might be different, but that is the ultimate goal for the music.
What formal and informal training and music exposure has been most helpful to you?
I first learned from local fiddlers that taught me “by ear.” Later I studied classical violin as well and learned to read music. Both methods and experiences were invaluable and I am glad to have both. More than anything have passionate, patient and dedicated teachers been my greatest asset.
You attended Berklee College of Music. How did that experience benefit you as a musician?
Attending Berklee really opened up my ears to styles of music I had never been exposed to before and made me realize how vast the possibilities are for my instrument, or any instrument for that matter. It was also great to be surrounded by so many musicians that were passionate about their craft and to learn about the business aspect of the industry. I still refer to some of my music business course books to this day.
Other than the styles of music that you perform and record, which do you most enjoy?
That’s a difficult question for me—I seem to go through phases and love a lot of genres. I don’t know that I would say that there are any that I love that I haven’t tried, because I tend to try most of them when I get really passionate about them. Right now I can’t seem to get enough of old classic country music.
When not on the road on in the studio, what are some of the activities that you most like doing?
I enjoy reading, walking, gardening and crafts. And hanging out with my family and neighbors. I’ve so much to learn from them.
Are you giving thought to your next CD?
I am! We will be recording this fall for a new CD to be released in 2019.
What do you expect might be on it?
I’m leaning towards that old classic country sound and thinking of going more in that direction. You heard it here first!
April Verch’s website address is: www.aprilverch.com
Posted 2-14-18
April Verch’s New Album ‘Once A Day’ Released Today
By Steven Brodsky
Once A Day is retro-wonderful, a masterful romp into the classic country music sound and heart that has largely vanished from today’s mainstream “country” genre. Fans of classic country music of the ’50s and ’60s will love this album. (I am one and I do.)
April Verch had this to say about Once A Day: “In many ways, making this album was not a choice. It was something I felt I had to do. It has been more daunting than any other project I’ve embarked on, because these songs, these artists, the history of this music matters to me on the deepest level. It is a love letter and a thank you letter in one, to the artists, songwriters, musicians, and industry professionals who created, perhaps in some cases without even realizing it, an era of music that speaks to me in a way that no other music does. If someone hears a song on this album and that prompts them to look up and love the original that will be the highest compliment I could receive.”
Information about April Verch’s overseas and U.S. concert tour is available at: www.AprilVerch.com.
Posted 4-12-19