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All of this happened a long time ago when the world was a very different place. Of course, none of us knew that at the time.
(From The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres) Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)
I wanted to bring to your attention an upcoming show that might otherwise slip under your radar. If you are in Nashville and free this coming Sunday (July 22), I recommend you head to Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison around 7pm. Joe Goodkin (a Chicago songwriter who we have featured on E2TG) will be making a rare Nashville appearance, and some of my favorite Nashville songwriters are joining him (Joe Nolan, Tom Schreck, and Connor Rand). I want to make sure I take maximum credit for my small role (with minimal effort) in getting these folks together for this show. I think it will be a good one.
On to our "Wild Wednesday" shuffle:
The music in my phone's memory is a hodge podge of all sorts of things: current and past E2TG featured artists/bands, older (and more recent) albums from my personal collection, music I have downloaded for various sources - just for fun, music given to me by various people that was not specifically intended to be featured on E2TG, and maybe some other things. On Wednesdays, I hit shuffle on all those songs and see what comes up. It's really interesting (to me at least) in that each shuffle has it's own "personality" or flavor. And, I never know what is going to come up. I call Wednesday's "Wild" not because the list of songs is necessarily wildly eclectic (just sometimes) but because each shuffle is like a wildcard - you never know what it will be.
Let's go!
"Please Do Not Go" by Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes' self-titled debut album was released 35 years ago this past April. It's a sign of age that these seemingly improbable anniversaries keep popping up. The album eventually achieved platinum status and sold over 3 million copies. It remains one of the more realistic depictions of adolescent angst. The band (with original members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie) is still going (Coincidentally they just played the Ryman with Echo and the Bunny Men).
"Dying to Live" by Shadow 15
Shadow 15 were one of the best punk/post punk bands to emerge from the Nashville music scene in the 1980s. Looking back, it's all relative, but I have learned that they were considered elder statesmen of that scene. Based on the few songs I knew, they were one of my favorite bands of that era. Thanks to the magic of social media, I have been fortunate to get to know Scott Feinstein (who along with his late brother Chris) were primary members of Shadow 15) and he turned me on to the 2009 Shadow 15 compilation, Far Away. Listening to that album has only confirmed that my earlier assessment of the band was spot on. I have learned, in speaking to friends who were part of the that vibrant and volatile scene, that Shadow 15 and the Feinsteins are spoken of with deep respect and admiration.
"Get on Board" by John Doe
The first three songs (including this one) in this shuffle have offered me a chance to revisit artists/bands that were part of my earliest memories as a music fan. I knew very little about punk rock music when I first heard X (More Fun in the New World wasn't purely punk - but close enough for these newby). I knew the Sex Pistols (by name anyway) and The Clash (by some of their more mainstream "hits") and maybe I knew The Ramones (details and timelines have gotten fuzzy over the years). Nevertheless, X jumped into my consciousness and took their place as one of my all-time favorite bands - a place they still occupy. When X went on hiatus in the early 90s, I followed John Doe's solo career beginning with his solo debut - Meet John Doe. This is a track from his latest (2016) album The Westerner. Stylistically, this is about as far from punk as you can get. What is interesting, though. is that there is a logical and straight line from X's hardcore roots through that band's evolution and Doe's Solo albums up to this recent album.
"Dick Heart" by George Trouble
Next up, we have another track from PLOW by George Trouble (aka George Terry McDonald). Please make note!: George Trouble will be in Nashville this Saturday (July 21) - playing a show at The Radio Cafe with Megan Palmer. This is one of two new album I got from McDonald - the other being Jawbone by his band The Zealots.
"I Feel Better" by The Dan McLane Family Band
The random shuffle is a really interesting thing. Last week's Wild Wednesday shuffle featured a track from the MCFK Section 6: Respawn Dub (one of only four songs left in my phone memory from that compilation) and today - one of the remaining three songs shows up. The late Dan McLane was a member of The Harmonica Lewinskies -- a great NYC band who we featured on E2TG. McLane passed away unexpectedly in April of 2016. Having several friends from the Mama Coco's and associated community, I witnessed the loss and say the way people came together in their grief and rallied around each other.
"Baby Strange" by The Replacements
Next up, a track from the Replacements live album - For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986 which came out last year. I got the track (which is a T. Rex cover) off an annual mix CD put together and sent out by a friend from my hometown.
"Dreaming of Tennessee " by Saint Luke's Drifters
I have both a confession and a humble brag. Confession: while I try to make sure all the metadata tags are complete and correct when I load music onto my phone, some times, they are not. This morning, a song came up in the shuffle... Track 8 by Unknown Artist from Unknown Album. The music sounded familiar but with so little to go on, I almost left it unidentified in the shuffle. However, I was able to find the album that "Track 8" came from and I did some hard and fast internet research from the lyrics of one of the other songs on the album, and I was album to make the identification. Track 8 - turned out to be the eighth and final track from De Entre Los Muertos an album by Saint Luke's Drifters - a band that featured my friend Mitch Laney who is now a part of Nashville Non-Prophets. The album title translates to Among the Dead (and was part of the Spanish title of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Vertigo.
"Carousel" (live) by Don Gallardo and How Far West
As it turns out, we close this "Wild" shuffle with three tracks from local (Nashville area) artists. Next up, we have a song by Don Gallardo and How Far West - from their live album, Live: Nashville Sunday Night (Live at 3rd and Lindsley). The song was originally on Gallardo's album Hickory.
"Dorothy's Shoes" by Mike Cullison
And, we close things out with The Roadhouse Rambler himself - Mike Cullison with a track from his album Front Porch Philosophy. The album was recorded at and by students from the Art Institute of Tennesseee under the supervision of Mark Robinson. Robinson plays on the album along with some other familiar names to E2TG readers - Brian Langlinais, Dave Isaacs, Daniel Seymour, and more. The song is about those famous ruby red slippers from Wizard of Oz)
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