Was just in a crowded kitchen, mashing potatoes, listening to Dori Freeman’s new album, and thinking about how great a Thanksgiving soundtrack it makes. It hit me during “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog,” a tune written by Freeman’s grandfather, Willard Gayheart — Letters Never Read is what it sounds like to be surrounded by family. Carrying forward traditions and putting your own spin on them. Enjoying the company and quirks of aunts, uncles, kids, and in-laws. Her arrangement of “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog” is as simple as it gets — just her voice — like an old recipe rendered with care. It made for a moment of calm contentment amid a chaos for which I’m very fortunate.
Whatever you’re spinning, I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.
The return of CD Monday! Well, not really. This is a more of one-off, given that my daughter is still threatening to melt down if she doesn’t get to determine the playlist during rides to and from work/daycare. (Potential DJ name: DJ Emotional Blackmail.) But I can listen to whatever I want while running lunch errands (!), and this week I’m getting reacquainted with Side Trips: Volume One, which is being issued for the first time on vinyl as part of this year’s Record Store Day: Black Friday event.
It’s a pretty snazzy album. Howard Wales wails (GET IT?!?) on Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes, and you get to hear how Jerry Garcia acts and reacts in a jazz setting. Parts can feel less like jazz and more like the middle of a Dead jam, but whatever. The vibe is fun and intuitive and exploratory, and it makes for great unfocused listening. Zone in. Zone out. Your call. It’s also perfect dinner music, assuming your guests are cool with meandering, guitar-driven jam-jazz. OK so maybe it’s better this is being reissued after Thanksgiving.
Think about one of your favorite singers, and try to remember the very first time you heard him or her sing. Did it stop you in your tracks? Did you look around the room, like “What the hell is happening right now?”
That was my experience hearing Sid Kingsley for the first time. Listening through Good Way Home on its release day back in May was an uncanny experience, both because of the jolt I got from his voice and because the album includes covers of songs by artists who are near and dear to my heart. A new favorite vocalist. New versions of favorite songs. It was such a trip…
…which made having the opportunity to sit down with Kingsley and interview him for River City Magazine even more of a trip. We chatted on the patio outside Cary Street Café, and in case you’re wondering, yes, I did nerd out and bring my vinyl copy of Good Way Home for him to sign. He did so graciously, and the article that resulted from our conversation hit the interweb this week. Click here to check it out, and click here to see where you can snag a physical copy of the magazine.
Want to know what’s really crazy? The uncanny experiences with Good Way Home haven’t stopped. I’m seeing two concerts in the next two nights, and Kingsley’s album features versions of songs either written or made famous by both of them: “Moonshiner,” a traditional tune previously recorded by Bob Dylan, and “Sam Stone,” by John Prine. Both are embedded below.
If you haven’t heard Good Way Home yet, you’re in for a treat. Maybe you’ll even have your own “What the hell is happening right now?” moment.
Hey, Virginia! In case you hadn’t already gotten the hint from the terrifying commercials they’re showing between Jeopardy! segments, there’s an election today! A big one, too — we’re choosing a new governor, and we’ll either be promoting current lieutenant governor Ralph Northam (recommended by this blog) or handing the keys to the race-baiting Republican who turned our state into a gerrymandered mess and is suddenly retweeting Donald Trump (gross).
I’ve already voted, and I’d love it if you followed my lead and voted for the folks with a “D” next to their names, but regardless of which bubbles you fill in, I hope you vote. There are so many important choices being made today, and more people being involved means better choices. I truly believe it.
And here’s a song to listen to on your way there. It has nothing to do with politics, as far as I know, but it’s what my phone decided to throw at me while I was driving to the polls. Then again, I guess a voting booth could qualify as an A/B machine? I dunno, just please go vote, y’all.
Currently sitting in Reagan National Airport, fixing to hop on a Chicago-bound plane with the whole fam. Two parents. One three year old. One five month old. Pray for us.
Speaking of prayer, I thought I’d designate “Jesus, Etc.” as my musical away message. I found an original pressing of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on Wednesday, which still blows my mind. I’d even saved the repress on my Discogs want list, thinking I’d never find an original within a reasonable price range. The vinyl gods have clearly blessed this mess of a trip.
I’ll be sure to say hi to the Wilco Towers™ for y’all.
You Hear That 