The last comment on the blog is, sadly, all too true. It seems Buddy Miller is recovering from some major heart surgery in a Baltimore hospital. We know this because we were planning to make Buddy a special guest on a show next month. So, thank you Norrie for sharing the info and rest assured we’ll be playing a wonderful new Buddy song on the show tonight.
I hope I don’t curse Dan Auerbach by raving about his album as much as I did Buddy’s! It is simply, and only so far, the best record of the year. It arrived here at the hoose when I returned from a foreign sojourn on Sunday and since then I have played it constantly. There are two many stand out tracks to mention here but ‘I Want Some More,’ ‘When The Night Comes’ and ‘Keep It Hid’ (the title track) will keep you happy. We’ll have a new Dan song on the show too tonight too. But let me lead you to our main event.
Towards the final week of Celtic Connections we had a visit from Mary Gaultier. (pronounced Go-Shay) I knew Mary’s name from my friend Tom Jutz who used to be her guitarist. On last year’s Another Country we played ‘I Drink’, Mary’s painfully honest confessional about her drinking days. Tonight she talks about these days, her extensive writing for others, her live work and her on going remarkable life. For those of you who’ve always felt they should be singing, song-writing or involved in some way in making music but have left it too late – an encounter with Mary may give you courage to believe all is not lost. She only picked up the guitar at 35 after over coming a list of personal set backs that would have discouraged the most optimistic of us. I’ll let Mary fill you in on the details during the show.
Here’s a couple of questions for you: We’re compiling our Unsung albums. This usually means we pick an album that may have passed under the radar but, effectively, led you to believe there was more to Country music than you had hitherto given it credit for. Let me know if there are albums we should be listening to that we’ve overlooked too. Secondly, I’ve been trying to think of the country performances that are truly indispensable. When everyone got into KD Lang, Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle because they were ‘new,’ did some old stuff get forgotten? I’d like to hear about some of your recommendations of Country Classics. If the names Conway, Merle, Waylon, Loretta or Connie are mentioned then so much the better.
Let me make a start: I Fall To Pieces by Patsy Cline. (I think the reason for Patsy and this song is my (perhaps false) memory of that being a stand out moment in Coal Miner’s Daughter – the film which made me realise I wanted to hear much more country.
Let me know on the blog or live tonight from 8.
Indispensable performances…..could be a very long list of course but I will start you with three or four from different eras:
Bobbie Gentry – Courtyard from her overlooked 68 album the Delta Sweetie
Gene Clark – Lifes Greatest Fool from the incredible No Other album
Boo Hewedine and Darden Smith – Evidence
Van Morrison – Til I Gain Control Again from hois excellent covers album Pay The Devil
and no list of mine is complete without
Willie Nelson – Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground.
Really looking forwrad to the Mary Gauthier interview as her set at the Tron was one of the absolute highlights of Celtic Connections.
Cheers
Norrie
You should definitely check out Mark Heard’s last three albums “Dry Bones Dance” (1990), “Second Hand” (1991) and “Satelite Sky” (1992). When Mark died in 1992 Bruce Cockburn, Olivia Newton John, Phil Keaggy, Pierce Pettis, Buddy & Julie Miller, the Vigilantes of Love and Randy Stonehill where among some of the artists who covered his songs on the “Orphans of God” tribute album. Bruce Cockburn and Julie Miller went on to write songs about Mark… Julie’s “All My Tears” was later covered by Emmylou Harris on her Wrecking Ball album.
Listening back to the show later than I should be on a “school” night here, so here are a couple of Unsung album ideas…
I was introduced to Iris Dement thanks to the finale of “Northern Exposure” ten or so years ago now (I’m now thinking of a multitude of “NX” musical links following on from Bon Iver) and the album “Infamous Angel” in particular. Quite apart from anything else on the album, the song “Our Town” blew me away, both in the context of that show’s final scenes but also very much so on its own merit. It’s all at once epic and intimate, and just quite brilliant.
I have to make mention of Mary Chapin Carpenter too. Her first album, 1987’s “Hometown Girl”, is full of elegantly simple songs, and for all the gems she has penned since (and which I discovered first), songs like “Family Hands, “Just Because” and “Heroes and Heroines” stand alongside the best although are far, far less well known. Her more recent albums, such as “Between Here and Gone”, also seem to have been largely over-looked in favour of her more mainstream fare, and as much as I love them all, that album sees something of a return to a pared back but emotionally honest approach. Also highly recommended.
As for Country Classic, I find myself drawn to the likes of Dolly Parton (who performed one of the finest gigs I’ve ever been to just a couple of years back), Hank Williams, Gram Parsons… but I think I’ll have to come back to you on that category!
Adam
Great list! Iris and Mary Chapin are both fantastic and it would be great to hear either on the show…..
Hi Norrie,
I’ll consider the motion seconded! I only recently discovered Iris’ album “My Life” and a memory stirs to remind me that I may have “Another Country” to thank for that. “Our Town” is just one of my favourite songs period, and it’s only just occurred to me there’s even a Deacon Blue link with the title!
Likewise, no Country Classic list could be complete without Willie Nelson. Good call.
Great nes Ricky – Springsteen and the E Street Band will be playing Hampden, the rumour has been kicking about since before Christmas and it is great to have it confirmed. See you there!