ouch fellas. go easy on the lady!

I stand by my opinion that the Stripes are a kick-ass minimalist rock band.

so I guess hate 'em all you want.

another typically brilliant record from rodney crowell. imho, one of the most underappreciated people making music today. and he just seems to keep getting better.


i picked this up used last night, and my god...what a beautiful record. i'm only one listen through and am mesmerized by this record. just beautiful.

Yes & yes !!
Robbie Robertson signed eastmountainsouth to the label & Exec Produced their record

Hey Bill, this may interest you. This just came out this summer. He also has an earlier solo album out.

thanks kent, i'm loving that eastmountainsouth disc. if i can get past "hard times" i seem to just keep hitting repeat everytime after plays. just beautiful.

That is on the Elizabethtown soundtrack.

and you can hate Cameron Crowe movies, but you can't hate his soundtracks. The man has taste, yo.

picked up Remain In Light, this afternoon, on my way home from work.

wow! i can't believe that i didn't pay more attention to these guys, back in day.

more heads in my future, i reckon.

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Take me to the river...

Funny. 'sufjan-hate'... I have to say I think Sufjan is way, way overrated.

------------

I have mixed feelking about Ray LaM's newest too. Some of it is very good... some.... meh. I still like Trouble the best, then Till the sun turns black, then this one I think. Thats not a good trend. Having said that - if he released another CD *tomorrow*.. I would run out and get it.

If you're a fan of piano trio stuff,...... this brand new Mark O'Connor work is a very cool thing (played by Eroica Trio)

Mark O'Connor: Trio No. 1, Poets and Prophets ­

I. Man In Black

II. The Tennessee Two

III. My June

IV. Hello, I'm Johnny Cash

@ first listen, i'm loving this. and i think it will get even better w/each listen. very different than "easy tiger."

except for the closer, "stop" which is a stunning solo vocal/piano piece about his struggle with addiction and sobriety, musically it seems to be much more of a collaborative "band project" than a ryan solo project. vocally/lyrically, it's still got his fingerprints all over it.

and at the risk of making the walrus boy's head explode, there are a couple of tracks with some very "bono-ish" sounding vocals on it.

i'm really liking this album a lot

Back to the River - Susan Tedeschi ... her first in three years and maybe the best she's ever done! if you don't know her, check her out. she's fantastic!

Oh yeah!

Great GREAT record

Last week I handed a few Tedeschi CDs to a good friend who had never heard of her. She... hated... her!

Crossed her right off my blues/rock concert list. Buh bye.

Red River Shore and 'Cross The Green Mountain alone are worth the price of Tell Tale Signs. Amazing, amazing stuff.

Just when I wonder how good ANOTHER bootleg series can be, I find myself very much NOT disappointed.

Yep! Bob just won't let up with the great stuff.


As for my latest purchase, I just got Ricky Nye's newest album: Ville Du Bois. He's Cincinnati's reigning blues piano king, and I had the good fortune of playing a show with him tonight and we chatted for a bit. Really nice guy, and some unbelievable piano chops.

Annabelle Chvostek- Resilience

got this one over the weekend. Annabelle used to be in the Wailin' Jennys, replacing original Jenny- Cara Luft on their 2nd album, and since going solo, she was replaced with Heather Messe (of Heather and the Barbarians, and Wayfaring Strangers fame). The music is similar to the Wailin' Jennys music, and is described by Amazon as contemporary urban roots. The album includes one song collaborated with Bruce Cockburn and also Mary Gauthier singing backing vocals on another.

I would like to make a friendly assertion that Justin Rutledge is every bit as talented as Ryan Adams (whom I love) and is severely uverlooked in the states. So, in the spirit of sharing great music...give him a listen and let me know if you think I'm wrong

I'll have to check him out. Thanks! What do you play?

I play guitar, harmonica and sing mainly- just a poor folkie.

i'll check him out, thanks Lindsey

Just picked up 3 discs:

Bright Eyes- Every Day and Every Night
John Mayer- Any Given Thursday
The Band- Music From Big Pink

ugh!

one of the greatest albums. ever.

ugh!

one of the greatest albums. ever.

I expected the Mayer reaction- I usually get that.

I dunno though, I've always like him. His songs have a way of making me feel better, and I love his guitar work. I'm not ashamed of it either!


As for The Band, yeah, Music From Big Pink is an album that I've been meaning to pick up for a long time. I've just started my first listen of that one.

If Mayer is a "blues guitarist," I am the king of France.


They just reissued the first two Band records (i.e. the good ones) on 180-gram vinyl. EPIC WANT.

See, the thing is... I don't care what kind of guitarist he is. I don't listen to him because he fits some mold. Honestly, I find artists who fit into a mold are less interesting in a lot of cases. I don't think Mayer has ever called himself a blues musician, or a pop singer or whatever else. He simply plays what he wants to play, and people make what they want of it from there.

His music moves me, regardless of what anyone wants to call it.

While I'm not a huge Mayer fan, my friends that play guitar speak highly of Mayer's ability to play guitar. And, some of his bluesy stuff is nice.

Yossarian08, you may want to know that Mr Walrus doesn't like much that's not full tilt. A generalization could be drawn that if it's mellow, like Mayer, Coldplay, etc, then it's not worthy in his opinion... I on the other hand, I dig mellow, slow blues, smooth jazz, floydian prog, acoustic guitar, harmonies and Pinot Noir... And Ryan Adams, does practically nothing for me. However, I can't seem to quit listening to Wilco's last disc.

And, I'm extremely jealous of the concerts you have tickets for this year!

Ah, I understand. I'm a big blues fan, but I'm no "blues purist"... I think my mind is far too open for that. I'm just a fan of music I guess.

Speaking of Wilco... that's a band I need to check out. I've been meaning to for a long time.

I've gotten pretty lucky with concerts this year. I kind of decided at the start of the year that I was going to see everyone I could. It has probably hurt my wallet a bit, but I certainly don't regret it.

I have quite a few Wilco, but there's just something special about Sky Blue Sky (2007). Just put it on and try to ignore it. Let it play through a couple of times. Also, based on the bands you like, you may want to check out Pat McGee Band's 2000 CD Shine. And, Martin Sexton's disc The American or his latest studio disc, Seeds. He has a new live disc that I haven't opened up yet... Also, James Hunter has some nice 60's sounding blues on People Gonna Talk. And finally, Gary Moore's got a new one called Bad For You Baby. I just got this one, but it's got some gems on it. I'm sure I'll be talking about it on the blues thread soon.

Cool, thanks for the recommendations!!

I like plenty of mellow stuff...Hem, Floyd, Peter Gabriel's "Passion" album, OTR, The Orb, Tina Dico, Beth Orton....

Mayer just comes off as a total hack to me. Like it's been so long since there's been a real guitar virtuoso on the charts that Mayer suddenly sounds like SRV by comparison to whatever else is out now. There's a thousand recording artists who play more authentic blues, and there's plenty of people who write better pop songs...I really could never figure out what the appeal there was, his 'uber-sensitive male' songwriter thing seems kind of contrived to me. I'm hardly a blues purist (I'm the whitest dude you will ever meet), I just want the music to sound like the guy means it.

I mean, I'm not crazy about Ryan Adams either...the guy puts out albums like clockwork whether he has 15 good songs ready or not, but I don't think he's faking it as far as what he's singing about (even though he clearly needs to cheer up...being a successful musician isn't all bad, dude). Although even Mr. Adams never wrote anything as embarassing as "Daughters" or that song that says "say what you want to say" nonstop for 5 minutes.


Wilco is awesome, but start with Summerteeth (my personal fav.) or the live record Kicking Television. Sky Blue Sky is a snoozer, apparently a pleasant snoozer, but probably not all that representative of what the band is about as a whole, IMO.

I second Kicking Television. I rarely suggest live albums to introduce a new band to someone, but this live album is a great representation of Wilco's range of styles and their legendary live performances. Might also want to rent the DVD Jeff Tweedy Sunken Treasure: Live in the Northwest 2006.

I see what you're saying. I just don't really think he's trying to play "authentic blues" or write the best pop songs... he's just doing what he wants to do. I mean we're in no position to judge how "authentic" his playing is- there's no way to judge emotion in playing I don't think... people express that in different ways, and people pick up on that emotion differently. I'm inclined to believe he's pretty authentic simply because he's always played what he wants to play. He could've written Your Body Is A Wonderland 50 times, but instead he grabbed his Strat and turned a lot of people onto music they wouldn't have heard otherwise. It's kind of sad that it takes John Mayer to introduce a lot of teenagers to people like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy- but at least he's done it.

We're going to have to agree to disagree here obviously... I'm not trying to change your mind- I just think he gets a lot of flak he doesn't deserve.

well, if he had, someone would have had to kill me.

"your bally is a-wonderin'" would be in the top 5 on my list of the worst songs written in the last 20 years (that is, if i actually had such a list). a horrible, horrible song sung by one of the most irritating voices i have ever heard, attached to one of the more annoying celebrities in recent memory. AGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!! the trifecta of suckiness!

his voice just make me cringe, it's like that episode of seinfeld where kramer goes into convulsions whenever he hears mary hart's voice, john mayer is my "mary hart"...

(if he and jennifer anniston procreate, there is no god)

That was the most awesome angry rant I've seen in a while.

I'm no fan of that song either... just for the record.

actually, that's more what i was going for (but i did mean every word of it )

Nice rant there Mr. Ivester. After listening to that song I added it to my list of songs/artist that i will change the channel or pull the plug to (Cher, Celine Dion, and her inspiration Barbara Streisand top the list).

Mayer seems to try to straddle the fence, playing blues, playing pop, playing "rock". Frankly to my ears, he does none of the above well. The blues is something you feel when you hear it. And I don't feel it when I listen to his stuff. Besides, how can you have the blues if you are dating Jennifer Aniston?

As far as Mayer getting people into Hendrix, SRV, Clapton, etc. Well when you don't have quality music education or parents that are willing to talk to their kids and turn them on to music(e.g. Billiam), you get ignorant fans. I"m not saying stupid, ignorant. There is a distinct difference people. Maybe that's your next career Bill, music educator/dad. You can cart around all your records and CD's and teach kids about music. Though I suspect there will be a large portion dedicated to Over the Rhine *cough cough*.

Sky Blue Sky wasn't an immediate like for me, but after a couple of listens I grew to like it. I'm not saying its the best album of all time. In fact, I'd take their earlier stuff or Uncle Tupelo over it. That and I"m a big Son Volt and Jay Farrar fan as well. Oh yeah and Gob Iron. "Death Songs for the living" is one of my favorite of the 2006/7 releases.

I'm not a huge fan of his ....nor do I know a whole lot of John Mayer's stuff (never heard the one song that's gettin' beat up) but I have heard some things that are pretty good. He's a legit songwriter & a very good guitarist....as witnessed by his sets at the Crossroads Guitarfests. Now, he do not HAVE de blues ....nor does he claim to, but he can play some good stuff.

RE:the John Mayer convo. . .

I'm not a fan, although I thought his appearance on the Dave Chappelle Show was hilarious. And I obviously like music that the Walrus deams not worthy of being called music, ala The White Stripes, or Jack Johnson, or any hip-hop ever written. But to be a guitar playin' mofo and not at least recognize that Mayer definitely has some chops when it comes to fingering his Fender comes off as just plain bias, IMO.

And I do dig the new Wilco - Sky Blue Sky. It's my second of their albums (after Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which I dig more, but has had more playing time.) I'll have to check out the live disc next time I'm at the store. Thanks for the recommendation.

Last CD purchased: Katy Moffatt - Loose Diamond

The disc is a bit on the country side of things, but the artist came highly recommended by a friend and fellow music nut. I've only listened to the whole thing once, so it's a bit early for me to make a judgement call on whether it'll really grab my attention or not.

Jack's Mannequin "The Glass Passenger". Little disappointed, but it has it's moments. Considering that "Everything in Transit" is one of my top 10 albums of all time, the expectations were unfair, I suppose.

re: wilco, i was a little late to the wilco party but sure am glad i found my way. i'm still catching up but i love "sky blue sky" and "yankee foxtrot hotel."

re: pretty boy john, there is no doubt the boy has some guitar slinger chops. and yes, i'll cop to total, complete bias when it comes to him. for some reason, i just hate him. he just strikes me as a soulless hack, much like christina agulera (sp?) has a great voice and great range and all of that, her vocal aerobics and histrionics do nothing for me. no matter what she sings, she might as well be singing the scales, there is an emptiness there, nothing to grab me and reel me in, it's just a beautiful, talented and trained voice with an empty soul. and that does nothing for me.

and there is so little that i agree w/steve(walrus) on, if we are so in the same frame of mind on this guy...we must be on to something.

I may have jokingly said that about the White Stripes...it's music, just not in tune or in time. I actually give props to Jack White as a guitar player, he does some interesting things, and the stuff he does in his other band when the other guy sings I actually kinda like. Don't remember saying much about Jack Johnson other than he sounds kinda like a mellower Dave Matthews. *shrug*

He's got chops...i just never found them that impressive. It's like Mayer skipped the awesome Cream/Derek & The Dominoes/Slowhand phases and went right to the tacky adult-contemporary "Save The World" era.

found this incredible out of print box set for less than 20 bucks today.
it has 4 CDs and 84 tracks, wow!

Townes Van Zandt- Texas Troubador

So very good. Those 2 blow me away