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First off, I witnessed a great night of music at The 5 Spot last night. Jon Latham, Allen Thompson, Zach Schmidt, Tim Easton, and Darrin Bradbury – powerhouse stuff there! As a bonus, I get to stick around and see long-time Ear to the Ground favorites Year of October as part of the late show line-up. I am really proud of how they have grown musically in the past few years since I first heard them.
Also, my review of the Wednesday Night Bobby Memphis Benefit show is currently (at press time) on the front page of No Depression, and although, I can admit that I always happy when something I wrote gets featured like that, what I really hope is that it leads some people to helping out a man who I do not know and did not know of, but who is obviously respected and loved by a large number of people. You can read the review here.
“True Love Doesn’t Beg” by Jesse and Noah
Jesse and Noah are brothers who come from a rich musical background. Their father and uncle are The Bellamy Brothers who you should know from “Let Your Love Flow” among many other great songs. Jesse and Noah have taken their musical background as a starting point and have been working hard for many years to forge their own path in the word of music. They have a new EP of acoustic covers called Brethen due out soon. That collection includes their incredible cover of the Everly Brothers “All I Have to Do Is Dream” which they played for Couch by Couchwest a year or so ago. Today’s track is from the duo’s 2013 album, Driven Back.
“Magnolia” by Matt Prater
North Alabama Country Music traditionalist, Matt Prater is up next with a beautiful song from his most recent album Tables and Chairs.
“Throw it Away” by Joe Jackson
Power Pop may mean different things to different people, but the connotation I take from it is that of high energy music backing up superb, hook-laden songs. I’ve always liked “Throw it Away” for it’s punk attitude and incessant beat. It hard for me to hear it and not want to move.
“This is Love” by Self
It’s funny, I added this to my playlist a while back, but I was just thinking about Self, Matt Mahaffey, and Spongebath Records. In the mid 1980s, Nashville had a thriving local music scene with a lot of bands getting national attention and signing the highly coveted “Major Label” deals. I grew up as a Nashville Rock music fan and witnessed and read about this vibrant and wild period. I moved to Memphis is 1988 and officially moved to Nashville in 1991. By the early 90s, the local music scene was decimated. It was a combination of disillusionment, self-destructive behaviors, and maybe just the natural flow of life. In any event, Self and the label they helped form, Spongebath were instrumental in rebuilding the local music scene (or perhaps more precisely in building the next phase of the local scene). Anyway, this song is from the last official Self album called Porno, Mint, and Grime (2005). The song also appears on the soundtrack to Another Gay Movie (for you trivia buffs).
“Share Your Adderall” by Mike Thomas
Our second Mike Thomas of the week – an uplifting number about legal troubles and prescription drug abuse… seriously, it is a really cool song. I was only able to find one video on You Tube, so the Video Playlist contains the same song I used the other day, but it’s a good song, too, and most of you probably didn’t watch it. For those of you who want to hear it (which should be all of you), I’m going to try to post a Widget of the song below…
“Fine and Mellow” (Billie Holiday cover) by Hurray for the Riff Raff
What’s that you say? I haven’t posted a Billie Holiday cover by popular New Orleans band, Hurray for the Riff Raff? Well, consider that omission covered!
“Walking in the Dark” by Brock Zeman
This song was one of the highlights of the night when I saw Brock Zeman (along with David Olney, Will Kimbrough, and Samantha Crain at the Bluebird Café a couple of weeks ago.
“1000 Years” by Direct Divide
Direct Divide are a relatively new band from Seattle which features symphonic and cinematic rock music with a blistering violin and powerful lead vocals.
“Pinball Wizard” (from Tommy) by Rod Stewart
From the 1972 album by the London Symphony Orchestra. Originally, Rod Stewart had been tapped to sing all of Roger Daltrey’s lead role, however, soon Daltrey and Pete Townsend became more involve in the project, and Stewart’s role was reduced this one song.
E2TG: MUSIC/WORDS 