Jonathan Byrd

So I started a songwriters series here in Springfield this past fall. It's called the Sangamon Songwriters Series. The idea was to bring top regional and national songwriters to Springfield. We did three shows, and honestly I have a lot to learn about putting on concerts. For the last of the three shows I took the advice of a friend of mine and looked into Jonathan Byrd. I listened to some of his stuff, liked it and brought him for the series.

Now that I've seen him I feel confident in saying he is obscenely good. Far and away one of the best songwriters/performers I've ever seen. He deftly mixes humor, sweetness, wisdom, sadness, poetry and great guitar playing with a sort of pulp sensibility. Idiomatically he touches country, folk, rock, gospel and bluegrass. He is the complete package. He does everything well and most things better than everybody else. These videos give you a taste but they don't begin to show what a great talent Jonathan Byrd really is.

I lost a lot of money putting on that concert, but it was worth every penny.

P.S.
You can download a free live show from Jonathan's Website! Just click music and then look for "Live at the Saxon Pub". If you like it you should buy The Law and The Lonesome it's phenomenal.

Ray Lamontagne

There are times when you hear something that makes you stop and turn your head. Ray Lamontagne is one of those people. He blends that smooth, cool, and soulful feel of Sam &Dave with the acoustic folk troubadour thing. He manages to pull it off by having great songwriting chops and a warm gravelly voice that has an incredible amount of feeling in it. Despite this visceral component of his music the former Lewiston Maine factory worker seems to be an incredible introvert. Definately I a guy I'd drink a beer with.

The Music Videos of Beck

Periodically I come across Beck and I think “Oh yeah I really love this guy’s stuff.” Idiomatically he straddles so many genres, anti-folk, electronica/dance, hip-hop, and several types of rock, and he does it with seeming ease. The songs have this strange coherence where the seemingly dispirit elements that make them up fit together in a way that is so perfect, in a way I never thought that they could be, like turntables and acoustic guitar, harmonic and programmed drums.

It wasn’t until last week that I saw the music video’s for many of his songs that I really like. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they too had the same internal coherence. They have that “je ne sais quoi” that the Spike Jones directed videos of Fat Lip, The Beastie Boys have. They have a visual playfulness (that is mirrored in the music), coherence, narrative and internal logic that seem incongruous given the fact that I couldn’t tell you what any of Beck’s songs are actually about. They often seem to play on some vaguely familiar style of art, film, or television, but do it in a way that seems original and fresh.

Here are a few, but the Universal Group You Tube page has a bunch more (they have embedding disabled).

Meiko

Sometimes you just hear something and it just grabs a hold of you, and you know that it's perfect. When I heard How Lucky We Are I knew that I'd be a Meiko fan. Her lyrics are sharp and draw you in and her understated delivery is none the less full of feeling. The production is sort of minimalist in the same, understated, way that Meiko sings. It's lean, but it has detail, variety and contour, things like voice doubling, eclectic percussion sounds, and Rhodes keyboards . These elements are used sparsely, in limited combinations, so that things aren't cluttered and the songs tend to have a certain calming, pleasant ambiance to them. Her songs have been featured on some TV shows and she tours quite extensively.

Billy Bragg

Those interested in the contemporary roots music are probably familiar with Billy Bragg. Bragg is probably best known for his collaboration with Wilco "Mermaid Avenue", which took Woody Guthrie songs that only had lyrics and put them to music. This collaboration yielded two albums and a movie which is quite good. In many ways Bragg is a throwback to the kind of songwriting that Guthrie empodied. Smart, often direct and playful his songs tend to take a strong stance on political issues. Bragg however is from England, so some of his work is particular to the happenings of his country. The artistry, song craft and playfulness, however, often mediates any lack of knowledge on the part of the listener. Bragg came on line during the early 1980’s, and his early songs could be described as New Wave one man punk-folk. Here are few songs that I like:

Pat MacDonald

A few months back I was reading No Depression and read a small article on Pat MacDonald. MacDonald was a member of Timbuk 3 who had a hit in 1986 with "The Future's so Bright I Gotta Wear Shades". His songs have been preformed by the likes of Aerosmith and Cher. For the last decade he has been working as a solo artist. MacDonald lives and plays around Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin and is a champion of the local music scene in Door County Wisconsin.

His music is characterized by low end rumble, bluesy licks and a tempo that's stomped out by his booted left foot. I haven't been able to get a hold of any of his albms yet, but his myspace page and these Youtube video give you an idea.

Music You Should Check Out: Noah Earle

I have often thought of musicians as falling into one of two categories "chops" musicians, or "feel" musicians. While this is often a useful way to think about things, there are times when you encounter someone who falls into both categories. So it is with Noah Earle. His music combines his incredible command of his instrument, his dynamic singing voice and his incredible wit and sense of compassion. Most good musician possess one of these things and know how to work it, Noah has all three and works all of them.

It's obvious that Noah has worked very hard to cultivate his gifts and make them his own. Although he lives in central Missouri, he tours continually all over the place. I've seen him in person a number of times and the shows have all been good. I've also had the pleasure of talking with him at length and in addition to being a great musician he is also a great person. A modest, down to earth guy who you can't help but like. You should definitely check out him out.

Noah and a number of other great roots musicians including Cindy Wolf and Big Smith are on the May Apple Records label.

Music You Should Check Out:The Black Keys

April 1st Marks the release of the latest album from the Indie Rock duo The Black Keys entitled Attack and Release. If you are unfamiliar the Black Keys are Patrick Carney (Drums) and Dan Auerbach (Guitar and Vocals) from Akron Ohio (and rep it hard). They play bluesy music ( and have a number of releases on Fat Possum Records), but have made it clear they are not a "blues band" given that the blues, as practiced by many purveyors, is a often a poor facsimile of itself . Carney's drumming is fierce, and Auerbach's raspy, soulful vocals and screaming feedback heavy slide guitar playing are often right in the pocket.

This new album is departure from their previous efforts in a number of ways. Their last few albums were self produced and recorded in their own home studio. Attack and Release was recorded in an out of the way Cleveland area studio and produced by DJ Danger Mouse of The Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley fame . The snip its I've heard sound good, you should check it out.

Barack Obama

The most thoughtful discussion of race that I've heard in a long time. An incredibly eloquent speech. A rare thing in our time.

Ningen Isu

I love bluesy hard rock and early heavy metal. For me a few bands stand out AC/DC, Mountain, and Black Sabbath. It's rare that I find anything that has the same kinda feel, but Ningen Isu might. They are a Japanese heavy metal band. They rock pretty hard. Here are some Youtube videos.

Inevitablity

I'm tired of television. Since the writer's strike started I've really come to loath it. Now that many of the programs that I used to watch are coming back, I'm not that interested in watching them. With all the re-runs that were on the last few months I realized how much TV I actually watch.

This feeling was brought into sharper focus last night when I watched the John Frankenheimer's classic Grand Prix. It was beautiful. It was art. And despite Eva Saint Marie, a lot mediocre dramatic scenes and the fact that the film is 40 plus years old it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It was a thoughtfully made thing. After watching this movie, which is quite long, and viewing all the special features which confirmed the directors devotion to authenticity, I shut off the DVD player and flipped through the channels. I was so put off by the offerings I just shut it off. It just felt so shoddy and mediocre. I was done.

One example of the shoddy product I'm talking about is "Reality TV". Thanks in large part to the writer’s strike TV is inundated with“Reality TV”. The whole concept of this genre is a farce. It has writers, producers and editors. Real life has none of those things. At no point in my life have I been asked to eat a bug, sing a song, or live on an island with 12 people for money, let alone fall in love with a rock star or live in a house with a bunch of washed up celebrities. Even the late night “news” programs repulse me. If I see one more 48 hours “mystery” about some perfect family, in some perfect town who were torn apart by a homicidal, sociopath, kleptomanical husband, wife, child neighbor, grand parent or garbage man I’m going to scream.

I’m done. Perhaps I’ll watch baseball this summer and a few of the show I like on-line. I knowthis whole piece is silly. Me and TV are in an abusive realtionship. I know I’ll pick up the remote and watch more mediocre, meaningless crap as soon as I get over this mood.

Avalon Mississippi

Welcome to my new blog Avalon Mississippi. Avalon Mississippi is the hometown of country blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. It's a very small town that for many years wasn't even on any maps. I kind of liked the idea of a little out of the way place that you might find somethings you like.


I'll write a lot about music, books and sports. I hope you enjoy!