Haunted by that summer feeling?
By Steven Brodsky
… Yes, it’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere, but no matter the season where readers are located, that summer feeling has a way of haunting people.
Perennially enjoyable for many of us, Jonathan Richman’s “That Summer Feeling”:
Posted 4-11-26
Prime spring picnic weather is coming to many regions in North America in the coming weeks
By Steven Brodsky
… Hopefully, a song character that we last visited here in spring 2023, the self-referenced “sad sack Sir Galahad” from Harry Chapin’s “If My Mary Were Here,” will be able to truly enjoy “cheddar cheese and wine” or another picnic food and non-alcoholic beverage with the woman he spoke of as “my Mary,” and if not with that Mary, with someone whose presence will help ensure that a picnic will be mutually enjoyable during spring 2026. His unenviable situation was no picnic.
Happy picnicking.
Posted 3-22-26
‘Down At The Borderline,’ the title track from the fourth installment in Vince Gill‘s ‘50 Years From Home’ EP series on MCA, was released today
By Steven Brodsky
Enjoy “Down At The Borderline”:
From a news release:
NASHVILLE, TN – February 13, 2026 – The guitar on the cover of Down At The Borderline says everything about the fourth installment in Vince Gill‘s 50 Years From Home EP series on MCA.
It’s a white 1953 Fender Telecaster that Gill bought for $450 in 1978 from Del City Music in his native Oklahoma, and it’s been Gill‘s main guitar ever since. “It’s real special,” he remarks. “I’ve got several other old Fender Telecasters, but that one just suits my hands, suits my ears. Everything about it is kind of a huge part of my entire catalog of playing guitar over all these years.” Testifying to that status is the worn finish on the guitar’s body.
Instruments featured on the cover of each EP are from Gill’s personal collection. For Down At The Borderline he chose his iconic 1953 Telecaster.
It’s appropriate, then, that the six new songs on Down At The Borderline, as well as “Liza Jane” from his 1991 album Pocket Full Of Gold, feature plenty of six-string rockin’ and more of an uptempo demeanor than its three 50 Years From Home predecessors. “There’s a little more zip on this EP,” Gill agrees, “some more guitar playing. Some of the earlier EPs have been singer-songwriter songs, not a ton of whittling around on the guitar. These songs are fun to stretch out a little bit on and just play some guitar.”
Down At The Borderline leads off with its title track, a rockin’, Cajun-flavored tune co-written with Liz Rose about a joint in Thibodaux, Louisiana where “they play the Zydeco and wrestle alligators,” with a sawdust floor and a shuffleboard table, as well as a matron, Mable, who keeps “a loaded pistol in her beehive hair.” The female voice on the song, meanwhile, is none other than country superstar Lainey Wilson, a proud native of Baskin, Louisiana. “Once I set it in Thibodaux I asked Lainey to come sing on it. She graciously said yes, and she killed it!,” Gill says. “I didn’t know if she’d be up for that; it’s hard to get somebody when they’re knocking it out of the park like she is, but she did, and I love the sound of our voices together.”
“Releasing a song with Vince Gill is truly a dream come true,” states Wilson. “I’ve had the chance to get to know him over the past few years and share the stage together, so being able to finally make music together means the world to me.”
Gill wrote “Never Saw It Coming” with Stephan Hogan, who he met while judging a guitar contest in Los Angeles. They stayed in touch, and when Hogan moved to Nashville, Gill invited him to do some songwriting together. “He’s very talented. I’m gonna root for him,” says Gill.
Gill has been carrying the Bakersfield-flavored “Pink Cadillac” with him since 2023. He owns a red 1973 Cadillac Coupe de Ville himself but had no problem taking a little creative license with the song. “On some of these songs I’m not trying to write War and Peace or anything; they’re just fun,” he explains. “Not every song needs to be serious.”
The chugging “Come Back” is another co-write, with Harper O’Neil. “She’s a young artist who’s incredible,” Gill says, “a great, soulful singer who’s starting to make some noise in town.” The song is marked by what he calls a “brainiac move” by fellow guitarist Tom Bukovac; “The solo that happens was Tom, and I wound up playing an octave higher and then a harmony to that. That’s a great-feeling track.”
The slow-paced tear-jerker “Love Died” is a collaboration with longtime friends the Warren Brothers and upstart Preston Cooper. Wendy Moten sings on the track as well, much to Gill‘s delight; “It’s some of the best singing you’ll ever hear when she cuts loose.”
Gill revs things back up for “Whole Lot of Cowboy Left in Me,” a rocking and defiant statement of purpose that features CMA Musician of the Year Paul Franklin’s stone country steel guitar. “I’m not much of a cowboy,” Gill, who co-wrote the song with Josh Thompson, fesses up. “I’ve got some boots and all, but I’ve never done much horseback riding or any of that stuff.
Nevertheless, he convincingly captures the authentic character of the song’s narrator. “I understand it very well. I grew up in Oklahoma; that’s where the National Finals Rodeo was held every year, before they moved it to Vegas. My family grew up on farms, and I played in so many honky tonks, so many bars, and I’ve been around so many of those characters. So, it was natural for me to write about ‘em.”
It’s appropriate that Down At The Borderline would close with Gill’s guitar-slinging 1991 hit “Liza Jane.” This EP follows the previous 50 Years From Home volumes I Gave You Everything I Had, Secondhand Smoke, and Brown’s Diner Bar.
Gill recently announced dates for his upcoming summer tour, which culminates in a 6-night residency at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He will continue to tour with the Eagles as well. Last month it was announced that Gill will be awarded the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize, an honor presented by American Prairie. He was also recently presented with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Complete tour information available HERE.
Posted 2-13-26
Remembering Dan Fogelberg
By Steven Brodsky
… who passed away eighteen years ago on December 16, 2007, with a song of his that succinctly and effectively conveys liquefying of emotion with these words: “the snow turned into rain”:
On or near Christmas and New Year’s Eve, many people will experience liquefying of emotion (regardless of external weather conditions).
Posted 12-16-25
Harry Chapin, who was an extraordinary humanitarian, songwriter, performer, and recording artist, made the world ‘a better place to be.’
By Steven Brodsky
… Harry Chapin was born on December 7, 1942.
In commemoration of Harry Chapin’s birthday, let’s listen to the highly empathetic portrayals of the song characters in “A Better Place to Be”:
Harry Chapin passed away on July 16, 1981 at 38 years of age as the result of a car accident.
Posted 12-7-25
Leonard Cohen and Billy Joe Shaver drew upon the same Bible verse
By Steven Brodsky
Note to readers: This article appeared at: https://delcoculturevultures.com/2025/03/10/conversations-about-faith/. Does Isaiah 64:6 raise questions for you? You may find answers to those questions at: https://www.gotquestions.org/imputed-righteousness.html.
… The verse is Isaiah 64:6. As translated in the King James Version, the verse reads: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
I’m writing about Leonard Cohen’s “If It Be Your Will” and Billy Joe Shaver’s “If You Don’t Love Jesus.”
Most people who’ve heard the songs haven’t encountered the verse directly (and most of this column’s readers haven’t heard the Billy Joe Shaver song).
In the Leonard Cohen song, Isaiah 64:6 is alluded to in the line: “In our rags of light, all dressed to kill.”
In the Billy Joe Shaver song, an allusion to the verse appears as: “Take your rotten rags of righteousness and stuff ’em up your self.”
“If It Be Your Will”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXoqQAvkLfQ&ab_channel=LeonardCohen-Topic.
“If You Don’t Love Jesus”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbF0bc7iEs&ab_channel=Boofitts. The song is “strident,” as I described it during a radio interview that I did with Billy Joe Shaver a number of years ago.
Posted 8-2-21, Reposted and Revised 3-11-25
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
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