Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Strangest Cargo Mix

Tweet #E2TG

!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”); Be sure to “Like” Ear to the Ground on Facebook!

Just as the weather is showing it’s first signs of cooling off, the music around town is heating up.  Shows are stacking up, Americana Music Association Festival is just a couple of weeks ago, outdoor shows are starting to ramp up…

Meanwhile, the E2TG Random Music Shuffles roll along.  We have a good one that covers quite a bit of musical ground… shall we? We shall!

“Tongues Are Turning” by Discount Ravioli

We have another (longer) track for Discount Ravioli’s new album (debut?) which is called Robin Schultz and the 21 Prayers.  There are, by the way, 21 tracks on the album.  This one is called “Tongues are Turning”.  By the way, still no video of Discount Ravioli so I included a track by another Dord Music Group artist – The Urinal Cakes. Meanwhile, if you search for “Tongues are Turning” by Discount Ravioli on YouTube, you can find a video of how to make ravioli and video diary of someone who got their tongue pierced.  Happy searching…

“Prayer for the Snake” by The Shakers

After running into Robert Logue at The 5 Spot a couple of weeks back, The Shakers have been on my mind, so I decided to load up their album, Songs From Beneath the Lake into my playlist.  Prayer for the Snake is one of my favorites from that album (though to be honest, I have a lot of favorites from that album). The Shakers were not all what one might expect of Nashville music in the late 80s/early 90s, but there was a unmistakable spirit of Southern Gothic mysticism present in the ethereally beautiful melodies.  Logue and Oscar Rice were part of the original line-up of Royal Court of China before leaving that band to focus on The Shakers.  The influence of those two musicians on Royal Court of China is evident on that band’s self-titled debut.

“irish twins” by valued customer

I have a hard time expressing how glad I am to have Valued Customer back in the shuffle.  This band from Toronto have been one of my favorites for a long time. They just recently released byugecup (the hugecup bsides).   hugecup is going the be the band’s next album.  Seemingly, these are tracks that did not make that album.  Make no mistakes, Valued Customer’s b-sides are on a level so far above most bands’ a-sides.  As with most of Valued Customer music, I don’t really feel like describing or analyzing the music too much.  I just kind of lean into it and let it take me higher… it never let’s me down.  Superbly talented musicians, spiritual seekers, weird and mad geniuses.  I guarantee you have never heard anything like Valued Customer.

window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”; http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js “Just Seventeen” by Raiders

As the sixties ended, and the 1970s began, Paul Revere and the Raiders decided to shorten their name and change musical directions.  The resulting album, Collage, was a commercial failure, but it included some pretty cool tunes like this one.

“Wade in the Water” by The Barefoot Movement

Another track from young traditionalists, The Barefoot Movement’s EP called The High Road.  This song is a negro spiritual that was first published in 1901 by the Fisk Jublilee Singers (the combo that actually gave Nashville the name Music City).

“Home Again” by Charlie Whitten

Originally on an EP called Travis County Macaroons.  This one came to me via a Noisetrade sampler called, An Assortment.  Charlie Whitten is from Nashville.

“I’m Not the Same” by Fritz Montana

Fritz Montana are an indie blues rock band from San Francisco. I honestly cannot remember how I came across this artist  UPDATE: I remember now – this came to me via last month’s Feel Bad For You Mixtape (submitted by the one and only David Popa Tunes Horton – it all makes sense now!), but I like them a lot. 

“Strange Boat” by The Waterboys

One more good one from one of my favorite albums, Fisherman’s Blues.

“Johnny Always Stayed” by Jonas Howden Sjøvaag’s Navyelectre

Another awesome improvisational track from the Large Ensemble out of Oslo, Norway. Wonderful songs and sounds. 

VIDEO PLAYLIST

Friday Morning Music Shuffle – That Thin Disguise Mix

Tweet #E2TG!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

Be sure to “Like” Ear to the Ground on Facebook!

Did you know that Ear to the Ground contributes over $500,000 to the economy every month?  And that we employee over 500 full-time and an additional 500 part time employees?   Okay… none of  that is true, but it does keep me busy and thus (mostly) out of trouble – which is in and of itself a good public service. 

Apologies for the untruths… but they were just little white lies which not coincidently leads us directly into the first song from our shuffle…
window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”; http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js
“White Lies” by Jason and the Scorchers

Although no video exists, I often pretended to be Warner Hodges while playing air-guitar to songs like this one back in my young days.  If you really want to visualize that, just remember I was significantly skinnier back then…   From Lost and Found.

“Rich” by Royal Teeth

Royal Teeth return to the shuffle.  This time with a song that did not appear on the band’s debut album Glow (I hope I got that right).  The recording (and video in the playlist below) are from a World Café Session and was recorded in the band’s hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana (which coincidently is where my parents lived when they were first married).  They play a pretty infectious brand of Indie, Dance, Pop. 

“Drop” by Elephant Revival

Elephant Revival – besides being about the 3rd or 4th band we’ve featured on #E2TG with Elephant as part of their name – are a high-energy folk/Americana band from Colorado.   The song was first released on the band’s 2010 album Break in the Clouds… the recording in the shuffle is taken from the forthcoming live CD/DVD called Sands of Now which are scheduled for release a week from today.

“On My Way” by Ivan and Alyosha

The Seattle Folk-Pop band are up next with one of their catchiest songs – from their 2013 album All the Times We Had.

“Crooked Mountains” by Tom Schreck

Nashville singer-songwriter Tom Schreck has a birthday today!  How does my random shuffle know these things?  He is one my favorite local writers, and this song is from his album Save Your Glory. Happy Birthday Tom!

“Rocky Island” by The Barefoot Movement

When you meet a band for the first time randomly at the Cash Cabin, and walk away charmed by their personality and with a couple of CDs of their music, you have a good feeling.  Fortunately, the music backs all that up.  This song is a traditional song from the band’s EP The High Road which features six traditional songs.

“I Don’t Want Nobody” by Rich Robbins (feat. Dantrell Cotton) (prod. Since ’93)

Rich Robbins, who I have been following now for a couple of years (we first met him when he was billed as Christian Robins), speaks his truth and does so brilliantly and beautifully. His debut album Nimbus features some pretty heady stuff, and is definitely worth a listen.   We dug deeper for the video – pulling up “Suburban Trap Rat” which was on a mixtape which first introduced us to this young man. 

“You Are Who You Are” by A Boy Named Banjo

We close out the day and the week with a young Nashville band who recently performed at Bonnaroo.  I got to see them a couple of months back at City Winery as part of a Ben Bullington tribute put on by their bassist Abe Scott’s father, Darrell Scott.

VIDEO PLAYLIST

Monday Morning Music Shuffle – I Said That Mix

Tweet #E2TG

!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”); Be sure to “Like” Ear to the Ground on Facebook!

It’s Monday and man it sure is hot here in Nashville…  you know what else is hot? Today’s shuffle!  Hot off the presses…  The #E2TG shuffle at it’s best – widely and wildly divergent styles and themes of music congregate on my music player on a weekday morning…  enjoy!

“Bowling Green” by The Barefoot Movement

Another traditional tune from The High Road EP.  A great way to start the week.

“Another Green World” by Brian Eno

At this point, it seemed like the shuffle might be going for some sort of “green” theme.  It ended here… the title track from Brian Eno’s classic 1975 album.  I would say chances are good that even if you aren’t a Brian Eno fan, you’ve likely heard this short instrumental piece.

“Gorilla Girl” by The Dead Milkmen

So far we’ve moved from traditional bluegrass music to ambient art pop and now onto whatever it is that The Dead Milkmen do… From Big Lizard in My Backyard.  “I love my groovy Gorilla Girl.”

“Jonesin’ for Jones” by Dale Watson

And from a song about a girl who looks like an ape, do a fine bit of traditional country music in the form of a tribute to the late great George Jones.

“Blood Oranges in the Snow” by Over the Rhine

As the heat index breaks the triple digits for the second or third day in a row, it’s refreshing to hear a song about snow.  Blood Oranges are pretty good, too.  This is the title track from the 2014 Holiday album by Ohio folk/Americana band Over the Rhine.  The first of what amounts to a mini-Ohio theme embedded in the shuffle.

“Ain’t That A Lot of Love” by Webb Wilder

I got to see Webb Wilder play with the Beatnecks a couple of weeks ago.  He still packs quite a wallop.  This is a cover of a song by Homer Banks and it was later covered by Simply Red (but you’d hardly know this is the same song).  Webb makes the song all his own.  From Hybrid Vigor.

“Modern Life” by Mothers

A slice of Modern Life from Mothers – another track from Panamanian Times.

“American Tan” by Aaron Lee Tasjan

Our second Ohio artist in the shuffle – although East Nashville claims him now!  From the new EP, Telling Stories to the Wall.  Dig it! 

“I Woke Up in a Race Car” by Batkhi Dahn

So Batkhi Dahn founder Hayden Nork just finished middle school.  Listen to this song and let that sink in.  Hayden’s other band just released the second single ahead of their forthcoming album Sun Songs (which will be their third release).

“You or No One” by Chrissie Hynde

This is recorded for World Café and is the lead track from the debut solo album by The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.  She was born in Akron, Ohio, and thus completes our Ohio mini theme (unless there are other Ohio connections that I missed – which is entirely likely).  The album is called Stockholm and it was released in 2014.  Kind of hard to believe that Chrissie had not released a solo album before then.

“Pax Romana” by The Great Game

The Great Game are an international band – their Hometown on Facebook is listed thusly: “Somewhere between south of Spain and North of Scotland, Passing through Prague and Antwerp.”  The Great Game is the name of their debut record from which this track is taken.

“Glory, Glory” by Lindsay Ellyn

Lindsay Ellyn’s EP Out of Road is one of my favorite records of the year, and this may will be my favorite song from that record.  At a time when it would appear from reading social media that everyone has everything figured out, it is nice to hear a song about good old fashioned doubts.

“Ballad of Billy Joe McKay” by Shawn Mullins

From his 1998 album Soul’s Core.

VIDEO PLAYLIST

window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”; http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle – H.S.K.T. Mix

Tweet #E2TG!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

Be sure to “Like” Ear to the Ground on Facebook!

Well here we are… late, but I did listen to this shuffle this morning.  Been on the road most of the day, so I’m just posting it now.   I got to keep it brief, but check out the great music.

“Notes” by Mothers

Another track from Panamanian Times. Just flat out cool punkish rock from New York City.  From the Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen collective.

“Fire and Flood” by Joe Sundell

This song has been lingering around my playlist for a long while.  From Joe Sundell’s awesome album, The Hat Thief.  Dig this song.

“Are You Gonna Be My Friend?” by Drew Kohl

Our first shuffle listen to Sweetheart EP by Drew Kohl.  We first heard Drew’s original voice as part of Young America.  Drew tackles the subject of love in some interesting ways, and Sweetheart is a really good record.  But don’t take my word for it, read what I had to say…. 

“Turn Me On” by Tipi Valley

Ed Toff (a.k.a. Tipi Valley) has been a favorite of Ear to the Ground for several years.  His latest release is called Dust.  Tipi Valley is from Swansea in the UK, and he doesn’t use You Tube.  So, you will need to listen to Turn Me On using the widget below

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3232476378/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1509590021/transparent=true/ “American Flags in Black and White” by John Moreland

Hands down one of the best shows I’ve seen this year was John Moreland at The 5 Spot (just a couple of hours after seeing him at Music City Roots).  He managed to silence both crowds with his gritty, gut-wrenching take on Americana/Roots/Folk music.  Hands down one of the best records of 2015 is Moreland’s High on Tulsa Heat.  Here is a track from that album.

“H.S.K.T.” by Sylvan Esso

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.  Sylvan Esso is Amelia Meath of Mountain Man and Nick Sanborn who does electronic producing under the name Made of Oak.  This song is simple yet brilliant, infectious without being obnoxious.  

“Lone Star Song” by Grant Lee Buffalo

Might Joe Moon was a Goodwill CD bin find, and I have really enjoyed discovering this album.  Lone Star Song may be my favorite song on the album, but I’m not sure.  It is a favorite, though…

“Jim Along Josie” by The Barefoot Movement

I can count on one finger the number of young, tradition folk bands that I have met in a chance encounter at the Cash Cabin Studio.  The Barefoot Movement would be that one finger.  Off of their EP The High Road.  Jim Along Josie is a foot-stomping traditional folk song.

“Ground” by Terrible

Terrible are Nashville band who are anything but… “Ground” is a song from their album Oakwood which was released earlier this month.  

VIDEO PLAYLIST

window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”; http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle – Weirdo Mix

Tweet #E2TG!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

Be sure to “Like” Ear to the Ground on Facebook!

Yesterday, I posted a listing of the live music I have seen this week.  Last night, I had the opportunity to visit the famous Cash Cabin in Hendersonville to meet and hear some really awesome music from a San Diego band called Talk Like June.  They have been recording at the cabin with John Carter Cash producing.  The music was great, and they stories and people were truly incredible. The spirit of Johnny and June Carter Cash is so present in that relatively small space.

Please understand, though, I gather no pleasure from seeing incredible live shows and meeting legendary music figures and all of that… I do it all for you dear reader – so that I may bring all of those experiences back with me and make Ear to the Ground the best it can be,  It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it…

Please don’t feel too bad for me, though….

“19” by Boy Named Banjo

Nashville’s Boy Named Banjo are going to be at Bonnaroo next month.  This song is from their album, Long Story Short.  A shout out to my friend Boyd for the recommendation.  He’s been guiding my musical tastes and experiences for many, many years,  and he currently is Israel having an incredible experience I am sure.

“City of Ends” by A Color Engine

A Color Engine was a project featuring one of Ear to the Ground’s absolute favorite people, Don Ryan along with Eric Burchfield who was part of Elephant Goes West which we featured here.  Don made this old project available as a form of compensation for the fact that some of us have been waiting literally a million years for a new Don Ryan record… okay maybe not literally… but you know… I dig this A Colored Engine record, but I’m still baiting my breath for the really new record.

“Hey Lawdy Papa” by The Barefoot Movement

Among this interesting people I met last night was this band newly relocated to Nashville.  They have a very real interest in promoting and learning traditional music, and I got hold of some of their music.  This song is from an EP called The High Road.  This is a Traditional song once recorded by a blues singer named Teddy Grace.

“Fisher’s Hornpipe” by David Schnaufer and The Cactus Brothers

Speaking of Traditional music…. we have another track from the legendary Dulcimer player here with Nashville band The Cactus Brothers which started as a side project of the great 1980s Nashville band, Walk the West.

“Swarm” by Whiskey Shivers

Exposing the rowdier side of roots music, we have Whiskey Shivers from their self-titled album.

“The Way it Went Down” by Tim Carroll

One of my favorite (among many songs) by the prolific and tireless Nashville guitarist and songwriter.  From his Pure as Coal album.  The video was produced by students at Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film here in Nashville.

“White Flag” by John Moreland

Oklahoma songwriter John Moreland has released one of the best albums of the year and if you ever get the chance to see him live – go and be prepared to have your mind and heard blown wide open.  

“Uja” by Tanya Tagaq

In our quest to make sure we leave no musical stone unturned..  some contemporary throat singing music from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut in Canada.  This is actually the second track we’ve presented from her.  Pretty cool stuff.

“Weirdo” by Masked Intruder

Masked Intruder are a masked Pop Punk/Power Pop band from Madison, Wisconsin. Weirdo is just a flat out awesome song.

“Tide is Rising” by Direct Divide

Direct Divide are from Seattle and play powerful Orchestral/Cinematic Rock music.  

“Trustful Hands” by The Do

The Do (the o has a line through it – one of those European things I don’t know how to duplicate in typing).  They are from Paris France, and I really dig this song.  I want to hear more from them as soon as possible.

VIDEO PLAYLIST

     window.amznpubstudioTag = “eartothegro00-20”;       http://ps-us.amazon-adsystem.com/domains/eartothegro00-20_3dcd3a52-1a1a-4afe-a2fd-aaba8e251afc.js