Los Lobos – E2TG: MUSIC/WORDS

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So, sorry no update yesterday. The pace of life tends to increase during AMA week…

Wednesday began with a stop off at a meet and greet for No Depression at Grimeys, Too. To celebrate the release of their return to print.

Then, I headed over to Tin Roof Nashville and had a leisurely lunch with my partner in crime, Sue Havlish and took in the Launch Party for the Ted Hawkins tribute album: Cold and Bitter Tears. That event featured James McMurtry, Tim Easton, Ramsey Midwood, and Mary Gauthier.

After a brief respite at home, I drove to the Cannery Complex for a way cool night of music. First up was The Suffers from Houston, TX. Seeing them for the first time, and I am hooked. So much soul and energy. They even brought some Outkast to the Americana stage.

Next was an something I have been waiting over 30 years to see. East LA band, Los Lobos had just won the Lifetime Achievement award at the AMA awards show, and their incredible set was a celebration of over 40 years of making music together. After bringing out guitar legend Jack Pearson for an amazing set of songs that included: “Not Fade Away” and the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha”, the band closed the night with a loud and furious rendition of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl”.

I ended my night with a trip upstairs to the Hi-Watt to catch the end of the Secret Sisters set. They blew me away as always with their gorgeous harmonies.

Thursday started with a trip down to the incredible Southern Ground Studios to watch the recording of an Acoustic Cafe session hosted by Rob Reinhart and featuring the incredible Warren Haynes playing songs off his latest (acoustic/folk) album, Ashes and Dust.

Then I flew over to The 5 Spot (actually, I wish I could have flown – but I crawled through rush hour traffic) and caught the end of the set by Bill Jackson and Pete Fidler from Australia. They were amazing. Next up was The Mark Robinson Band who knocked it out the park celebrating the release of their new two-sided single, “Gone South”. They began with the acoustic version of that song and then a few more acoustic tunes with an augmented band that included Richard Bailey of The Steel Drivers, the aforementioned Pete Fidler, and Luke Amelang. They then brought it home with the power trio line-up of Robinson, Justin Amaral, and Daniel Seymour and ended with the electric rock version of “Gone South”. David Olney rounded out the evening with week three of his September residency, and he once again blew it out of the park with a set that ended with a rousing version of “Chain of Fools”.

Next it was back to the Cannery Complex for a night highlighted by Ray Wylie Hubbard and marked with running into a bunch of friends. I actually, reluctantly but prudently, called it a relatively early night and made it home before midnight.

Things crank up today with some day time events and a great night of music on tap for tonight.

More to come…

Here we go into another week. Couch by Couchwest has come to an end, but you can relive the glory here:

We got 10 songs this a.m. so let’s get to it:

UK band, The xx are up first with VCR from the album xx. Be Kind and Rewind…

Next up is Portland, Oregon band Loch Lomond with the lovely Elephants & Little Girls.

East LA band Los Lobos have been around since the mid 70s, but their breakthrough came in 1984 with release of the T-Bone Burnett produced How Will the Wolf Survive? We have A Matter of Time today which I actually converted from a vinyl copy of the out of print Slash Records compilation Slash Cuts.

In typical random fashion, Bruce Springsteen’s spare solo album Nebraska was the first CD I purchased (a few days before I bought my first CD player). Atlantic City is our track today.

Beggars Banquet was released in 1968 and was the 7th studio album by the Rolling Stones. Street Fighting Man is just a great song.

The Sea and Cake come from Chicago. Up on the Northshore from The Moonlight Butterfly album is a beautiful song that I fell in love with instantly.

Nashville’s own Will Kimbrough (via Mobile, Alabama) fights against his Southern upbringing by deciding to be Less Polite a politically charged song from his politically charged album Americanitis. (Hint: This album is unlikely to be played at a Tea Party Rally).

I honestly didn’t know until I started writing this post that Sam Prekop was in The Sea and Cake. It makes sense, though. Up above we have a link to an earlier release by Sam Prekop. The song today, Arizona comes from a film called Pavilion by Tim Sutton. Mr. Prekop contributed to the score. You can download your own copy of Arizona and stream another track called The Eve. Stereogum will hook you up – here.

“Don’t forget the Motor City…” Outrageous Cherry have been around for ten years and have nine full-length albums to their credit. Thanks to Beyond Beyond is Beyond and Bang Bang Boogaloo for turning me on to the band. Today’s track, Unbalanced in the City is off of the band’s latest album Seemingly Solid Reality.

And finally, Magnolia Electric Co. have been absent from the public since 2009 due to on-going personal issues of founder Jason Molina. You can find out more about that – here. We have the amazing song, Whip-Poor-Will from the album Josephine.

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