Download now or listen on posterous My Father’s House.m4a (4882 KB)
“My Father’s House” — Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott (Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival, Alta, WY, August 13, 2000)
Darrell Scott’s autobiographical “My Father’s House” should be required listening for aspiring songwriters. Its lyrics say everything that needs to be said, and not a word more, about childhood lost, the power of music, unrequited love, sons and their fathers, and the holes inside of us we spend our lifetimes trying to fill. I listened to it ten times yesterday, and gleaned a wholly different nugget of brilliant, magical truth each time. For a reason I’ve yet to fully discern, I sob uncontrollably every third or fourth time I hear it, as though it’s touching a depth in my emotional reservoir I’m not able to consciously swim to. And then there’s that mysterious refrain, on loan from another song, from some other time, and somehow perfectly fitting.
Download the song here, or help yourself to the entire Tim and Darrell show over at It’s Great To Be Alive. For more Darrell, browse over to this recent post.
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6 months ago
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“I Love The Life I Live” — Willie Nelson (Carlyle’s, Arroyas, CA, September 3, 1993)
Willie Nelson’s contribution to American popular music is a boundless bounty, unmatched in its breadth and depth. He is perfectly peerless in that he is the creator of two of the most beloved, bestselling, influential, and important albums of all time, each completely disparate in sound and origin from the other. One, the magnum opus Red Headed Stranger, is a songwriter’s original concept piece, while the other, the endlessly listenable Stardust, is an interpretive collection of pop standards. Here, he’s harking back to the classic Chess Records sound of the second greatest musician named Willie, the Chicago bluesman Dixon, to create what could be the theme song of The Australian’s life-loving music and humanity blog.
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6 months ago
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“Rusty Cage” — Johnny Cash (Irving Plaza, New York City, July 9, 1996)
In keeping with the current theme here and over at It’s Great To Be Alive, here’s some heavy Cash from ‘96 in NYC. The Man in Black’s latter-day work, masterminded by mad professor Rick Rubin, is a serendipitous marriage of 90’s grunge rock angst and Cash’s own long-cultivated, shadowy sensibilities. To call Rubin the white Quincy Jones at this point is beyond understatement; his honorable enshrinement at the Kennedy Center should be one of Obama’s top first-term priorities.
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6 months ago
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“Hard Edge, Texas” — Willie Nelson (Bad Reichenhall, Germany, May 24, 1998)
Unearthing a heretofore unbeknownst original composition by Willie Nelson is analogous to finding a genuine gold nugget while panning the cloudy upper deck of your toilet following a vicious prank by party invitees who you thought were your friends: it doesn’t happen very often, and when it does, you’re pretty psyched. I’ve been a loyal Willie listener for much of my life, but I hadn’t ever heard this song until I came to own this brilliant soundboard recording of the Brobdingnagian ‘98 show during which it was played. Supposedly, these flawless tapes exist because this music was planned for commercial release as a sequel to the classic 1978 bestseller Willie and Family Live. I’m curious when this perfect ballad was written, and whether or not it’s been released on one of Nelson’s multitudinous studio albums. Luke, I’ve got my intern “busy” with other “things” right now, would you mind having one of your research assistants poke around the interweb for some facts?
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7 months ago
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“Ramblin’ Man” — Hank Williams Jr. (Gilley’s Club, Pasadena, TX, 1980)
While trolling the depths of my archives for a Hank Jr. version of “Midnight Rider”, I came across this different Allman Brothers interpretation I like even better. Maybe this is what I was thinking of all along. Oh, how the mind bewilders. At any rate, this precious gem was recorded in 1980 at the legendary Gilley’s Club in Pasadena, TX. Immortalized in the groundbreaking John Travolta vehicle
Urban Cowboy, Gilley’s was one of the great honkytonks ever erected. I unearthed this riveting
article about the place as part of the rigorous research this site is known for.
Ramblin’ Man by Hank Williams Jr.
Download now or
listen on posterous Ramblin’ Man.mp3 (7919 KB)
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7 months ago
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“This Time” — Waylon Jennings (Alabama Theater, Myrtle Beach, SC, June 14, 1995)
Posting this as a nice companion cut to the epic Highwaymen show from the same era available over at It’s Great To Be Alive right now. Waylon Jennings was an ornery cuss with a tender heart, the true embodiment of the old west ethos that inspired the greats of the genre to join forces and sculpt the Mount Rushmore of Outlaw Country. A maverick innovator, his use of the nomenclature “hoss” to refer to himself in the third person throughout his work predates the boastful self-proclamations of today’s gangsta rappers. Attention smart phone users: You can now download the music on this blog directly to you handheld via http://milehighbobby.posterous.com !! Take me with you in your pocket everywhere you go!!!
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7 months ago
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Different Light by Steve Winwood
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listen on posterous Different Light.mp3 (11038 KB)
“Different Light” — Steve Winwood (Esslingen, Germany, July 17, 2003)
What’s happening, sheeple?!? I apologize for going underground, but after much solitary soul searching and tiresome technical tinkering, I’m prepared to offer a revamped MHBI&S with which you can load your ipod, catch up on my goings on, and feed your insatiable appetite for the artful articulations of America’s second favorite Denverite. In order to temper this blind leap into the future with a reverent nod to the past, I’m opting to revisit the well of Winwood for his late-career ode to new beginnings known as “Different Light”. Let this be an inspiration to us all to shed the baggage of bygone bogusness and embrace the tantalizing possibilites of tomorrow’s what-have-yous.
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7 months ago
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