Friday, December 11, 2015

Featured Friday Morning Music Shuffle - The Joy and the Crap Mix



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Well... It's Friday!  By my estimates, there are eleven work days left in 2015.  I am going to have to huddle up with the awards committee* over the weekend to take stock of where things stand.  I know I will leave somebody important out, so expect some adjunct awards early in 2016.
*I am the awards committee, by the way....

Now to today's "Earie"Award.

The Award:  the "There Going to Put Me in the Movies" Award aka the "Act Naturally" Award aka the "Buck Owens" Award....

The premise: No premise really, just a way to connect two awesome songwriters/musicians so that I can give them both an award for being awesome.

The Awards go to:

1.  Joe Nolan -  Joe recently signed a new publishing agreement with Creative Songwriters Music which is hopefully mean we will be hearing some of his great songs in movies and television shows soon. In addition, Joe Nolan is by the best definition I know, a true modern day renaissance man.  In addition to his extensive journalistic work  - among other things he is the arts editor for the Nashville Scene, a regular blogger, etc. etc. etc.  He was recently awarded a commission by the Metro (Nashville) Arts Commission to create a song based upon a piece of public art, and he has an on-going Nashville Public Radio series about Nashville's many "Pikes".  Makes me proud to be a "Joe".




2.  Andrew Adkins - Andrew has an excellent track record of having songs used in movies and trailers.  Most recently, one of his songs was used in the trailer for Colin Hanks' film about Tower Records, All Things Must Pass.  This was cool to me for two reason, 1. Tower Records played an important role in my musical development - particularly in the early 90s.  2. Colin Hanks was in Orange County and he's Tom Hanks' son.   In addition, Adkins has kept busy making music under a variety of names before consolidating it all under his own name.  Semi-coincidently, he just released the first single from his forthcoming album, Glass Castles (which will be released the day after my birthday).  The single is called, "May the Stars Fall At Your Door" and it marks a bit of a departure from the kind of music Andrew Adkins has been doing.






On to the shuffle:


"This I See" by Dan Coyle

Another track from Dan Coyle's Random Random Thoughts and Incomplete Sentences. The album is a few years old, and maybe shouldn't be on my "Featured" playlist, but hey, it's new to me, plus it's my playlist, my blog, my rules. 

"Oklahoma" by Nellie Clay

I got to hear Nellie Clay perform some of her music Wednesday night at the Family Wash and then I ran into her last night.  She is one of my newest favorite local songwriters.  Originally from Oklahoma, she moved to Nashville from Alaska. Her new album is called Never Did What I Should Have Done.

"Write it Down" by Tom House

The first of three songs from Tom House's latest album, Songs Like Dreams... More Like Blood.  The album features a cover image shot by E2TG favorite Brock Zeman.  Tom House is hands down one of Nashville's best songwriters and I am glad I finally caught on to his music.  This song really speaks to me as a creative person.

"The Sky is the Color of Wow" by Tom House

I love almost everything about this song.  The title is great.  Some of the lines just blew me away to the point that I wanted to go back and hear them again to get the full impact. The subtitle of this post comes from a line in this song.

"True North/Magnetic North (Metro North)" by Smokey the Firebear

Yesterday, Smokey the Firebear posted the following:
The rough mix of Ohm Atlanta is finished! I now have two months to wear myself out over every little detail and probably rerecord half if it

This track is one of the rough mixes which is available on Bandcamp.  Today, Smokey the Firebear tweeted that tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Smokey the Firebear.  I currently have almost 40 Smokey the Firebear songs in my playlist. As I have said before, these Connecticut kids don't mess around.  

"I Do the Worst Things" by Tom House

Back to Tom House.  Sadly, I can relate to this song, too.  I posted three different Tom House songs in the video playlist but be sure to search out Songs Like Dreams... More Like Blood.

"Prayer Emoji" (feat. Supa Bwe) by Rich Robbins

Another track from Nimbus on of my favorite albums of 2015.  I love the title of this one.

"Can't Be Satisfied" by Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen

Closing out the shuffle with two blues songs by gentlemen who know more than most about the genre.  Earie Award winning Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen had been on my radar before 2015, but with the release of Love and Life and having had the opportunity to see them live a few times this year, they have jumped into my favorite artist category big time.  By the way, some E2TG trivia, Ted's Scissormen played a show up in New York with E2TG Hall of Famers and fellow "Earie" award winners The End Men - a couple of months ago. I wish I had been at that show!

"Goodnight" by Bob Margolin

Our first listen to My Road the forthcoming new album by "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin.  Mark Robinson recently got me up to speed on Bob Margolin.  I had heard the album before I talked to Robinson and I knew right away this was something special.   Margolin is a legendary blues guitarist who spent of backing Muddy Waters and even appeared with Waters and The Band in The Last Waltz.  Like Ted Drozdowski, Bob Margolin is a respected journalist who has been contributing to Blues Revue for many years.  As I said, even without the background, one listen to My Road leaves little doubt as to the genius behind it.


VIDEO PLAYLIST






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