Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle – Easy Listenin’ Mix

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Well congrats again to Walking for Pennies and Nena Anderson for being voted Bands of the Months for November/December combined. Next, we turn our attention to the 2nd Annual Ear 2 the Ground Band of the Year Poll. Throughout this year, we’ve had some epic battles for Band of the Month. Who can forget the nail biting photo finish from January when the mighty, mighty MAKAR edged out The End Men, so the battle between South of Ramona and Sci-Fi Romance with the boys from Utah coming out on top. Or the no-holds-bar Texas death match when Upstate NY band Skeletons in the Piano narrowing defeated Georgia’s own Killing Kuddles. Well, soon all of these bands and more of your favorite E2TG featured Artists will be pitted in a Battle Royale. Remember, no biting, eye gouging or hitting below the belt. And mostly remember, our main purpose is to have another opportunity to present some of the great music that has reached our ears this year. So keep it clean and have fun.

Before we jump into the Band of the Year battle, we’ll take a look back at our inaugural Band of the Year Poll.

But, now, we have a Morning Shuffle to present so, let’s stop jibber jabbering and get to it…
Shuffle after the jump…

MORNING SHUFFLE

I tend to think of The Sea and Cake as Easy Listenin’ Music for the cool kids. And, I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. There is an appeal to music that mellows you out. It’s why so many alternative boys and girls take guilty and secret pleasure in listening to the classic Easy Listenin’ songs from the 70s. The Sea and Cake provide the mellowness free of any guilt. Up on the North Shore from 2011’s The Moonlight Butterfly is a good introduction to the band.

Former Drive By Trucker, Jason Isbell along with his fabulous band, the 400 Unit, are tearing it up on the Americana rock circuit. In the shuffle today, we have a bonus track from the Deluxe edition of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit album – a cover of Big Star’s When My Baby’s Beside Me which was on Number 1 Record.

By 1987s See How We Are, Billy Zoom had departed from X and was replaced on the album by ex-Blaster Dave Alvin. Alvin left shortly after that and was replaced by Tony Gilkyson for a subsequent tour. See How We Are found the band fully embracing the emerging Americana/Alt-Country sound which had been hinted at in their earlier. (I contend that even their early punk days, Billy Zoom’s rockabilly guitar style was a natural precursor to the later more explicitly countryesque sound). Today’s shuffle contains When It Rains from See How We Are.

Could not find a video for When It Rains – here is an early version of the album’s title track

We’ll close out today’s Morning Shuffle with a Classic from Hank Williams – Hey Good Lookin’.

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Friday Morning Music Shuffle – Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum mix

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What a week! Friday is here. Let’s have a shuffle!

Nashville band and past Featured Artist on Ear2theGround just released a live album recorded on Tuesday at Springwater Supper Club. You can get that via the band’s Bandcamp page. Today’s song comes from the September 2012 release from the band’s vault. It’s a cover of the song that helped make Hank Williams Sr. an honorary Cajun. I say, Calicocat have earned that distinction with this awesome cover of Jambalaya (On the Bayou), and I’m 3/4 Cajun so it’s my decision – right?

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=3153923016/size=grande3/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Here’s Hank!

Here’s CCR!

Another Nashville artist is up next. Harrison Hudson from his 2011 album American Thunder with Every Girl.

Shaky is the former guitarist for the Philadelphia band Cold Fronts. He has has some solo music out now including the song Head Over Heels. Check it out:

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=3209628587/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Here’s a video from Cold Fronts when Shaky was part of the band.

And finally, we go back a few years to pick up on L.A. band Beachwood Sparks from their album Once We Were Trees with Confusion is Nothing New

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Friday Morning Music Shuffle – Questionable Mix???

Well, there is nothing questionable about the songs in today’s shuffle. Once again, I did not have to walk up the hill into the office, hence I did not actually get to listen to today’s shuffle… I decided to hit up my kind of Hall of Fame playlist again today. Yesterday’s shuffle had a decidedly political theme to it. I’ll leave it to you to extract a theme from today’s shuffle. Theme or not, though, it’s a truly great mix which will hopefully lead some readers to discover or rediscover some great songs.

First up is the opening track from Minneapolis post-punk/alt-rock band Soul Asylum’s major label debut, Hang Time. Down On Up To Me remains a personal favorite. I had the good fortune to see Soul Asylum twice in the early 90s.

I can’t believe I couldn’t find Down on Up to Me on YouTube, but here is another song from Hang Time:

Next up we have a Traditional American Folk song which was made famous by the iconic Lead Belly in the early part of the 20th Century. The version of Goodnight, Irene in today’s shuffle is by Les Paul (the inventor of the solid body electric guitar) and his then wife and collaborator, Mary Ford. ““sometimes I take a great notion to jump in the river and drown”

Here is Deer Tick’s version of the song

I don’t know how many time’s this song has come up in shuffles since I began writing Ear to the Ground, but don’t expect me to stop featuring it anytime soon. Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield from her amazing Dusty in Memphis album.

Next up we have a 1993 cover of a 70s era Village People song, Go West. Pet Shop Boys recorded the song for their 1993 album, Very. We have the Pet Shop Boys version in the shuffle today.

Here is the original version

Finally we have another cover, that many people do not know is a cover. Lost Highway which reached my teenaged, punk rock brain via Jason and the Scorchers’ version from the 80s. The song’s most famous version (and the one often credited as the original was recorded in 1949 by Hank Williams. Leon Payne actually wrote and first recorded a year earlier.