Emmylou Harris & Mary Black: Green Rolling Hills

If you count the three months I lived in Chester, WV in 1975 and the four months I lived near Logan, WV in 1976, I have now been in the Mountain State of West Virginia for a total of 30 years. It is hard to believe that I’ve been here that long, but it is equally as difficult to believe that I have lived anywhere else.

When I think of my adopted home, one of the songs that comes to mind was recorded by Emmylou Harris and Fayssoux Starling (now McLean) on Emmylou’s 1978 album “Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town.” This was the second of the four or five Emmylou albums that I own and “Green Rolling Hills (of West Virginia)” was one of my favorite tunes. Today’s Traditional Tuesday feature is a more recent recording with Mary Black from the “Transatlantic Sessions, Volume I.”

Written by the late U. Utah Phillips whose normal fare was labor protest songs. Besides Harris and Black, this particular recording features the dueling fiddles of Aly Bain and Jay Unger. Bain was a founding member of The Boys of the Lough and Ungar who got his start with David Bromberg but is probably best known for his composition and recording “Ashokan Farewell” which was used as a theme for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the Civil War. Ungar’s wife, Molly Mason, is playing bass on this cut.

American bluegrass musician Russ Barenberg is the feature mandolin picker on this cut. He is often sought out as a session musician by those much more famous than he. Phil Cunningham of Silly Wizard is playing the low D pennywhistle. I love the sound of these – but haven’t bit the bullet to buy one as they are a little expensive. Mary Black hails from Ireland in this confluence of artists from Scotland, Ireland, and America.

Blues Traveler: Imagine

John Lennon’s “Imagine” is one of those songs in the pantheon of rock and roll that should be left untouched and never covered by anyone at anytime. I certainly can understand this view and would have thought that an adequate cover of Lennon’s classic hit could never be recorded. Some would even view such a vain attempt as nothing short of sacrilege. Although nothing could ever replace Lennon’s original, Blues Traveler released an interpretation of the song that, while not being an exact copy (thank goodness), needs a listen or two in its own right.

From the tribute LP, “Working Class Hero,” I really like this cover and the thing I really like is the subtle interplay between John Popper’s harmonica and Ben Wilson’s organ during the verses - not to mention Popper's solo - which is fantastic. Popper is probably the most proficient harp player in the business today – not only is he talented, he has a distinct sound that can be recognized anywhere. In addition, the primary instrument in this rendition moved from piano to guitar on their cover - and thus, provides enough differences between the original and cover that gives a level of distinction to the Blues Traveler version.

Lennon’s Imagine

Rolling Stone listed “Imagine” at #3 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and it represents the three songs by Lennon slated as shaping rock and roll by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named Lennon’s “Imagine” the Greatest Song of Past 100 Years. Likewise, the Recording Industry Association of America rated “Imagine” at #30 on the list of the top 365 songs of the 20th century. The single charted at #3, and the album of the same name topped the charts during 1971.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: I Find Jesus

Sometimes finding a Spiritual Sunday tune has been a challenge and for today it was no exception as I was trying to find a song relating to mother that was not sad in nature. I almost considered using the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” as mother is mentioned; however, I am thinking that the great majority of folks on this Mother’s Day probably wouldn’t want to hear a song about a hearse carrying mother away. This is not fitting the day whatsoever, so I scrapped the Mother’s Day theme altogether and lo and behold I found “I Find Jesus” from their 2002 release, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume Three.”

“I Find Jesus” features Jimmy Ibbotson on lead vocals and pretty much reunites the classic lineup of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Jeff Hanna on slide Dobro®, John McEuen on mandolin, and Jimmie Fadden on harmonica. Taken from one of the Gaither Homecoming Videos, this song is fitting for our typical Sunday fare. This is one that I will consider doing as a special sometime at church in the near future. For all of you mothers out there, have a Happy Day.

August 1981 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the WV State Fair

Front Row: Jimmy Fadden, Jeff Hanna, Unknown woman, Michael Gardiner.
Back Row: Richard Hathaway, Dave Blanford (EMI Records), Ron Hill, Me.

 

Jethro Tull: Stand Up

I’m not sure when I bought this LP, but I do remember that it was my first Jethro Tull album and it was a good introduction to this band that has been around since the late 60s. I have three personal favorites on the LP “Bourée,” “A New Day Yesterday,” and “Nothing is Easy.” For today’s introduction, I’ve opted to go with the less heavy “Bourée,” which is a reworking of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Bourée in Em” from his “Suite in Em for Lute.”

“Stand Up” included a unique cover design that features a pen and ink drawing of the band that imitates the look of a wood cut. When you opened the gatefold of the original US Reprise release, a pop-up of the band emerged. The artwork garnered the New Musical Express best album art award for 1969.

Stylistically, the album defines categorization. There are blues influenced tunes, the classically inspired “Bourée,” a Middle Eastern flare with “Fatman,” and other straight ahead rock selections. Next to “Bourée,” the best produced song on the entire LP is “Reasons for Waiting” with its flute duet in the intro. For your listening entertainment, I am supplying a YouTube playlist of the original album in order.

J.J. Cale: After Midnight

For this Friday Firsts recording it is another chicken/egg scenario as the one who wrote the song really did not commercially release the song until the hit was recorded. Oklahoman J.J. Cale wrote “After Midnight,” but only recorded it as a demo. It was bassist Carl Radle who introduced the song to Eric Clapton who recorded it for his first solo album in 1970. Cale released his own version of the tune in 1971. Unfortunately, neither the demo nor the 1971 version are available on YouTube; however, a live version from 1994 recorded in a Dutch studio gives a taste of Cale’s original arrangement.

In 1971, Cale’s commercial recording of the song was released by Leon Russell’s Shelter Records as a single and a cut on his “Act Naturally” LP. The single just missed the Top 40 by charting at #42.

Eric Clapton’s First Version

Most individuals became familiar with “After Midnight” was released as a single by ATCO in 1970 to support Clapton’s solo LP. The song peaked on the American charts at #18 and did much better in Canada at #10.

Clapton’s 1987 Version

On the boxed set Crossroads, Clapton released a second version of “After Midnight” that was arranged quite differently than his original hit single from 1970. In addition, this version had a slightly slower tempo than his original 1970 recording. Although not released as a single, the 1987 version gained popularity as the music bed for a Michelob commercial.

Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale Together

Here’s a rare treat featuring both Clapton and Cale on “After Midnight.” While I am not sure of the date of this video, it probably was captured to tape in the early 2000s.

Robert Plant & Allison Krauss: Killing the Blues

If you told me 35 years ago that Robert Plant would be singing country music, I would have said, “you’re crazy – this is guy that sang ‘Good Times Bad Times,’ ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ ‘The Immigrant Song,’ ‘Black Dog,’ Rock ‘n Roll,’ and ‘D’yer Mak’er’ . . . say it isn’t so.” Well he did and did it well along with Allison Krauss on the duo’s LP: “Raising Sand.” It is our TV Thursday tune as it was used by J.C. Penney as a commercial bed.

Written by Chris Isaak’s bassist Roly Salley, “Killing the Blues’ had been previously covered by both John Prine and Shawn Colvin. As for Plant’s performance, it is as natural as Allison Krauss’ performance on these tunes and the chemistry between the two really works.

“Raising Sand” achieved critical acclaim and received the following honors:

• The CD placed #24 on Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Albums for 2007;
• The song “Killing the Blues” – placed #51 on Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Songs for 2007;
• Americana Music Association’s (AMA) Album of the Year. 2008;
• AMA Duo of the Year, 2008;
• The CD – Grammy for Album of the Year, 2009;
• The CD – Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album
• The song “Please Read the Letter” – Grammy for Record of the Year, 2009;
• The song “Rich Woman” – Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 2009;
• The song “Killing the Blues” – Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, 2009;

The J.C. Penney Commercial

Plant, Krauss, and producer T. Bone Burnett are currently working on a follow-up to “Raising Sand.”

Poco: Good Feeling To Know

Poco was started in 1968 as an offshoot of Buffalo Springfield by Jim Messina (later of Loggins and Messina) and Richie Furay (later of Souther, Hillman, & Furay) and is still active today. I’ve picked “Good Feeling to Know” from the 1972 album of the same name as it was the song that was receiving the most airplay when I saw them in concert in August 1973. This was my very first concert.

The Poco lineup at that time included Richie Furay, Paul Cotton, Timothy B. Schmidt, Rusty Young, and George Grantham. My brother Chuck took me to see this show as a going away to college gift. There were to be two warm-up acts: Ian Lloyd and Stories (“Brother Louie”) and Joe Walsh and Barnstorm. Unfortunately due to illnesses in both acts, neither showed that night.  A newly signed Asylum Records artist - folksinger David Blue was the substitute opening act. He appeared along with Don Felder who provided electric guitar accompaniment to Blue’s acoustic guitar.

When Poco came on, they were extremely high energy. Much of what I remember of that show were the performances of steel guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young. At various times during the concert he played an unusual Frankenstein of a guitar. He called it “The Bear,” but the official name of the instrument was the “Melobar.”

 Melobar by Moserite Guitars

It basically was a lap steel guitar neck affixed to a solid guitar body.  The neck was aligned at approximately a 75 degree angle. This provided the artist the opportunity to play lap steel without needing a lap or a console to house the instrument. Pretty cool, huh? The name “The Bear” was given to it by the band because of the effects Rusty was running it through as it often sounded like a growling bear when he performed low-end slides. 

Additionally towards the end of the show, Rusty did some wild things with his pedal steel guitar. At one point, he picked up his chair which had a round tubular bottom and used it as his slide. He also knocked the pedal steel on its side and played it with the necks facing the audience. What a showman.

To top it off, we saw the show at Pittsburgh’s then Syria Mosque – which was the home of the local Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Our father had been a member of the Syria Shrine. The Syria Mosque was a great hall for concerts due to its size. There was not a bad seat in the house, and although we sat on the very back row of the first level, we saw everything clearly. The Syria Mosque was an ornate and elaborate facility that sadly is no more. In the 1980s, the University of Pittsburgh purchased the property that adjoined their campus and leveled it to make way for a parking lot. Ah, progress.

 One of the two sphinx at the entrance of Pittsburgh's Syria Mosque

As for Poco, the band released one more album (“Crazy Eyes”) with lead singer Richie Furay before exiting the group to join John David Souther and Chris Hillman in the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band. He would later rejoin the group as did most of its former members over time. Furay is currently the minister of Calvary Chapel Church of Bloomfield, Colorado. He has continued to tour to support both his Christian recordings and his secular music in  reconstituted versions of Buffalo Springfield and Poco.