Category: Music

RanchoCast Goes Beta

I trashed my first stab at a podcast and replaced it with the beta version of the now renamed RanchoCast.

Update: Here’s the list of the episodes that survived.

This one only has 3 songs, including one of mine- Haunted House, which I co-wrote with Ronnie Jeffrey. It’s still in early beta, so we’ll see if and how things progress.

I am beginning to formulate a plan for how this podcast might work. Cassidy recorded some on the microphone tonight and seemed to enjoy it. My plan is to implement a family podcast, with everybody selecting a song each week- sort of like Fred Wilson does.

It’s going to have to be fast and easy for me to do it regularly. I’m not there yet, but the fact that I’m considering a regular podcast shows that I’ve come a long way.

Podcast at Last

After I crapped all over podcasting, I went and tried to make one.

Here is the very alpha version of my first KentCast. This is just 5 songs that happened to be in my Playing Now window when I hit the button.

I’ll post more later, but I believe the combination of the soon to be released version of Media Center, which I have used for years as my primary music player and highly recommend, and King Sparta’s Podcast Creator Plug-In may just be the tools needed to make podcasting easy enough to be useful.

We still have the elephant in the room, and I’ll take this podcast down after I test it in favor of some other stuff that I might actually have the right to podcast. But at least I can now create a podcast with a push of a button. Now if I can just find something I can legally podcast that anyone would want to listen to.

UPDATE: I tested and deleted that podcast and replaced it with the beta version of the now renamed RanchoCast.

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Mossberg on DRM

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has spoken out on DRM and its effect on the listener’s ability to use and enjoy the music he or she has supposedly purchased. Almost everything in The Wall Street Journal bores me to tears, but Walt’s technology columns are always well written and interesting.

He takes on objective, even-handed view of the issue, recognizing that both sides have legitimate issues. He concludes with this excellent suggestion:

I believe Congress should rewrite the copyright laws to carve out a broad exemption for personal, noncommercial use by consumers, including sharing small numbers of copies among families.

Because of Walt’s reputation and reach, perhaps the priority challenged RIAA will actually listen and reward its customers with some logical and fair proposals. If not, perhaps Congress will.

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Jukebox, Annotated

You know the drill. Open up your jukebox of choice, point the shuffle feature to your entire library of songs and list, without exception, the first 10 or so songs that play. Each week, I add a little commentary about some of the artists, songs, albums, etc.

That’s the Day – Dale Watson (Cheatin’ Heart Attack) (1)
Union Square – Tom Waits (Rain Dogs) (2)
Cowboy Romance – Natalie Merchant (Tigerlily) (3)
One Good Year – Said Cleaves (Broke Down) (4)
Makin’ It Natural – Dr. Hook (Doctor Hook) (5)
What You Want – The Mertons (Girandole) (6)
End of the Party – The English Beat (Special Beat Service) (7)
Night Riders Lament – Jerry Jeff Walker (Ridin’ High) (8)
Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ – Allman Brothers (Idlewild South) (9)
Girl About a Song – Jonathan Gregg (Blue on Blonde) (10)

(1) Dale makes good, real country music that sounds like the stuff I heard on the radio as a kid. There’s nothing particularly notable about this song, but I’m real happy there are people who still make this kind of music.

(2) My buddy G-Man and I went through a phase back in the late 80s during which we listened to Tom Waits almost exclusively. I love his great songwriting and his ragged howl. This is a fine example of both off of a great album. Sadly, that howl became more and more unintelligible over the years until it turned into just noise sometime in the 90s. I don’t buy his new records, but I love his old ones.

(3) I run sort of hot and cold on Natalie. Just when I decide her songs are too generic, I hear one like this one that’s so wonderfully wistful. This is a fine song that is going onto my current MP3 CD so I can listen to it in my truck.

(4) Slaid makes good, melodic Americana music. This is a mighty fine song about trying to get your stuff together. In one way or another, that’s what we’re all doing.

(5) I have always liked Dr. Hook. After the famous Cover of the Rolling Stone, this is probably my favorite Dr. Hook song. Because of the drug-related content, I won’t play this one for my kids. But it’s a clever and funny song.

(6) The Mertons are exactly the kind of band that makes alternative country (which is a little more ragged and rock influenced that Americana) my favorite musical genre. This is absolutely one of my favorite records and will certainly end up on my Top 50 list. Highly recommended.

(7) I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard this song- the one that really turned me on to new wave music. This is one beautiful song that I will always associate with my discovery of a lot of fantastic new wave bands back in the 80s.

(8) A fine song off of one of JJW’s two great records from 1976. He was a little rougher back then- more of an outlaw than an Americana statesman. My favorite JJW record is the much overlooked A Good Night for Singin’ from that same year.

(9) A funky guitar driven romp off of one of the best albums by the greatest rock and roll band of all time. This song rocks in a way that simply didn’t exist pre-Allmans. If you can listen to this song and sit still, you better check your pulse.

(10) I can’t recall how I found out about Jonathan Gregg, but this is the best song on a fine album.

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My Favorite Records:Billy Hill – I Am Just a Rebel

This is the sixth part in my series of favorite records.

When I lived in Nashville from 1982-85, one of my favorite musicians was John Scott Sherrill. I saw him and his band many times at the Goldrush and other local watering holes. While he is one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville, I can find very little John Scott Sherrill the performer’s music on CD, or even LP (occasionally you can find some 45 promos on eBay). The one recording that is available is the only record by Billy Hill, a band he was in in the late 80s with fellow Nashville great Bob DiPiero and some of Nashville’s other legendary songwriters and session players.

The Album, I Am Just a Rebel is a virtual clinic of real country music songwriting and playing. Too Much Month at the End of the Money is the kind of songwriting that would have been a huge hit had it been recorded by one of Nashville’s marketed stars. Just in Case You Want to Know is a bluesy country tear jerker that you can imagine playing on the jukebox while you drink away your sorrows. One of the best and most unusual covers ever is a countrified version of the Four Tops’ Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch. You’ve got to hear it to believe it, but it works. My favorite song on the record is either the beautifully forlorn Drive on By or the country-rocker Rollin’ Dice.

There’s great writing and great playing on this record. It’s pretty obscure, but fortunately it’s available at Amazon and perhaps elsewhere.

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Stuffing the Cat Back into the Bag

emptybagI have never seen a more aggressive attempt to stuff a cat bag in the bag than the idiotic one currently being waged by the record label cartel against anything the doesn’t involve paying $15 for a CD that costs about a buck to produce. Now they’re after satellite radio.

I guess if I’d been riding the backs of artists and their fans for as long as the record labels have, I’d try to stuff that cat too. The problem is that it won’t work. The digital age is upon us record label friends and all you’re going to accomplish over the long run is to alienate people like me who used to buy a lot of your product.

Here’s what needs to happen. Some smart person needs to creat a company that duplicates CDs and creates and duplicates the associated packaging the way Qoop produces photo books. The same company could distribute the music on CD either by itelf or via Amazon and other online stores. The same company, or even the artist himself or herself, could distribute the songs electronically via MusicMatch, Yahoo Music, etc.

That would show the record labels that they don’t control the game anymore. Let’s put the power and the money back in the pockets of the artist.

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My Favorite Records:Bill Morrissey – Standing Eight

This is the fifth part in my series of favorite records.

I still remember the first time I heard a Bill Morrissey song. It was Handsome Molly on KPFT in Houston. The songwriting was incredible and his voice was unique. I bought Standing Eight, the album that song was on, the first chance I got. I quickly discovered one of my favorite songwriters.

Bill writes songs that sound like a chapter from a dark, narrative novel- sort of like Cormac McCarthy set to music. In fact, Bill later wrote a very good novel called Edson, which I also recommend.

In addition to Handsome Molly, there are 13 other songs on this record and each of them tells a story of love won or lost, without a hint of melodrama. I had a friend once who could tell a story about folding laundry and make it an edge of your seat experience- Bill Morrissey writes songs like that. Songs about life experiences that everyone shares. He is the best I’ve ever heard at turning a musical phrase.

All of the songs on this record are excellent, so it’s hard to pick out highlights, but I’d have to single out Up on the C.P Line and These Cold Fingers (one of the saddest songs ever) as my favorites, along with Handsome Molly.

If you want to hear new folk music done the right way, this is the album to start with.

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Jukebox, Annotated

You know the drill. Open up your jukebox of choice, point the shuffle feature to your entire library of songs and list, without exception, the first 10 or so songs that play. Each week, I add a little commentary about some of the artists, songs, albums, etc.

Truck Driving Woman – Norma Jean (The Best of) (1)
Sail on Sailor – The Beach Boys (30 Years Box Set) (2)
I Thought You Loved Me – Tractor Kings (Sunday Night) (3)
Serengetti – Grateful Dead (Shakedown Street) (4)
Ringling, Ringling – Jimmy Buffett (Living and Dying in 3/4 Time) (5)
Brady’s Leap – Moonshine Willy (Bold Displays of Imperfection) (6)
Do You Fancy Me – Tarnation (Gentle Creatures) (7)
Snowblind Friend – Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf 7) (8)
King of Birds – REM (Document) (9)
The Moon is Down – John Prine (Fair & Square) (10)

(1) Porter Wagoner’s early duet partner never got the credit she deserved, but she made a lot of good, traditional country records. This is a good, old fashioned country song.

(2) Everyone has at least a few Beach Boys records. They made some amazing music. This is a mighty fine song.

(3) Good alt-country, neo-psychedelia song off of their first record.

(4) I shouldn’t admit this since I had two brief stints as a drummer, but I’m just not all that crazy about drum solos- sorry. But as they go, this is a good one. I really like this album.

(5) One of the best songs on his great 1974 record. Come Monday gets all the run, but there are 7 or so better songs on this record, including my all-time favorite- Spider John (a great cover of a Willis Alan Ramsey song).

(6) Alt. Country with a bit of a punk/bluegrass vibe. I like the band OK. This is not one of the better songs on the record.

(7) Paula Frazier has one of the best voices I have ever heard. Period. This is a great song (the strings really add to the sad vibe) on a great album.

(8) I have been a Steppenwolf fan since the first time I heard them. Unlike many of its comtemporaries, the cuts on Steppenwolf albums are almost always universally strong. This is about as country as Steppenwolf gets.

(9) REM is a great band and this song is one of my favorite REM songs. I have no idea what it is about, but like many REM songs I hear messages in it every time I listen to it. A 10+ on anyone’s scale.

(10) I like this new record a lot- it’s classic John Prine, plugged in a little. This is a classic, wistful, grey Prine song.

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XM Radio Making the Right Moves

C|Net is reporting that XM Radio has surpassed the 5 million subscriber mark. It is on track to have 6 million subscribers by the end of this year. Additionally, XM has invested in WorldSpace radio in order to facilitate expansion overseas.

I have been an XM subscriber for a couple of years now. I have not listened to one second of traditional radio since the day I got XM in my truck. I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would return to traditional radio. The mindless banter and, more importantly, the ads are simply unacceptable to me in the days of XM and, at least for a while longer, TIVO. As of a few months ago, you can also access many XM stations over the internet (as long as you are already a subscriber).

I expect XM will do very well over the long haul, as long as it doesn’t overpay for sports broadcasting rights. Eventually there will be a crossroads between more music channels (which I want) and more sports (which I’m sure XM believes many of its target audience wants), but until that time, I expect to be very happy with XM.

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My Favorite Records:Amazing Rhythm Aces – Full House, Aces High

This is the fourth part in my series of favorite records. The list so far is here.

One of my favorite country rock bands is The Amazing Rhythm Aces. Led by a fantastic singer and songwriter, Russell Smith (a neighbor of my sister in Tennessee), they put out 6 excellent records in a row between 1975 and 1981.

The last of these is the double live album Full House, Aces High. This limited release album was recorded by the band as a sort of farewell to their fans (the band later reunited) and for years was pretty hard to find. I have the LP and later bought a CD-R copy from one of the band members. Now this gem of a record has been released on CD.

From the first note of The End is Not in Sight through the last note of I’m Gonna Miss You (Like the Devil) this record captures the best of the country by country rock sound. Highlights include a bluesy version of Just Between Me and You and the Wall (You’re a Fool), the best version of Dancing the Night Away and my favorite drinking song ever, Amazing Grace (Used to be Her Favorite Song). King of the Cowboys is dedicated to John Wayne (“my hero” according to Russell Smith) and could be a bookend for Guy Clark’s Desperados Waiting on a Train.

This record has been criticized some for a bad mix and record pops (the CD was probably recorded as a needle-drop), but I hear none of those problems. The mix sounds perfect to me, especially the keyboard track, which is an integral part of the sound. The occasional needle pop only adds to the authentic experience of hearing this band at the top of its game during a time when LPs still ruled.

There is not a bad track on this record. If you like good country/country rock, you will love this record.

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