Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Rockets Mix

Well, I hope everyone had a good fourth of July.  Here in Nashville, it seems like burn bans due to dry conditions kept the private fireworks to a minimum.  The Downtown Nashville fireworks display was, as usual, pretty amazing.  With a finale that did not disappoint.

But, it's back to work now, and a pretty interesting shuffle for this 5th day of July.

First up:  We "discovered" National Grain when we stumbled across some music from an off-shoot band called The Flint Hill Specials.  We checked out National Grain found their Americana, Alt-Country sound to our liking.  This morning we had Pretty Women Won't Give Me the Time of Day from the band's self-titled album which was released in 2006. National Grain hail from Atlanta, Georgia.

could not find a National Grain video, so here's something from Flint Hill Specials.

Second up, is a new song from Joe Jackson's new album, The Duke, which is a tribute to Duke Ellington.  On this first look, Jackson teams up with the one and only Iggy Pop to take on the Classic song It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).

And finally, we have a track from former Fleet Foxes member Joshua Tillman, who has previously released solo albums as J. Tillman, but who is now recording under the moniker Father John Misty.  His first album under the new name is called Fear Fun, and the song we have today is called Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings.

 

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DUKE ELLINGTON:EARLY TRACKS FROM THE BY ELLINGTON,DUKE (DVD) *Artist:  ELLINGTON,DUKE *Genre: Music Video - Jazz *Rating: NR *Release Date: 8-AUG-2006

Artist Fleet Foxes Perfect Rock Pop Music Product Type Compact Disc Domestic Track Title. 1 Sun It Rises. 2 White Winter Hymnal. 3 Ragged Wood. 4 Tiger Mountain Peasant Song. 5 Quiet Houses. 6 He Doesn't Know Why. 7 Heard Them Stirring. 8 Your Protector. 9 Meadowlarks. 10 Blue Ridge Mountains. 11 Oliver James. Borrowing from ageless folk and classic rock (and nicking some of the best bits from prog and soft rock along the way), on their self-titled debut album Fleet Foxes don't just master the art of taking familiar influences and making them sound fresh again, they give a striking sense of who they are and what their world is like. Their song titles reference the Blue Ridge Mountains -- never mind that they're actually from Seattle -- but it's the ease and skill with which they mix and match British and American folk and rock from the far and not too distant past that makes the band's music so refreshing. While this mix could be contrived or indulgent, Fleet Foxes use restraint, structuring their flourishes into three- and four-minute pop songs full of chiming melodies and harmonies that sound like they've been summoned from centuries of traditional songs and are full of vivid, universal imagery: mountains, birds, family, death. Despite drawing from so many sources, there's a striking purity to Fleet Foxes' sound. Robin Pecknold's voice is warm and sweet, with just enough grit to make phrases like "premonition of my death" sound genuine, and the band's harmonies sound natural, and stunning, whether they're on their own or supported by acoustic guitars or the full, plugged-in band. "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and "Meadowlarks" show just how much the Foxes do with the simplest elements of their music, but Fleet Foxes' best songs marry that purity with twists that open their sound much wider. As good as the Sun Giant EP was, Fleet Foxes saved many of their best songs for this album.