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Seven years ago, May 2010, much of Nashville was under water. Heavy rains, some ill advised dam activity, and who knows what else had combined to create one of the worse floods in this cities history. The damage spread from the east side of town to the west and even affected downtown.
I had to work on the Monday following the end of rain, and at lunch time I took a walk - listening to music and took pictures. Cars and streets underwater. The tops of light poles barely sticking out of the water. I posted a note on Facebook about that walk and included the listing of songs I heard while I walked.
Nashville emerged from the flood stronger than ever, and many, many people have arrived here since that flood happened. Walking downtown, you'd never know it happened, but it did.
About one year later, I started writing Ear to the Ground. The two events are not really related, although both speak to my desire to share the music I hear and to relate that music to... whatever - the world, my life, my day...
Without any direct intent, this space has been a chronicle of my journey through this life - accompanied by the soundtrack. It's a simple concept, and every time I try to complicate it - as I inevitably do, I end up mucking things up... but so far, I have always pressed on.
Tonight, I wanted to express my gratitude for the people and the music who have kept E2TG going. It's going to be a month-long party, and you are invited. It all begins tonight around 6:00pm at The 5 Spot in East Nashville with featured music from Mark Robinson Band. Come on out!
I loaded a bunch of music into my phone last night - including about 450 songs for the new Topical Thursday Playlist which will premiere tomorrow. Today, the shuffle comes from all 2,000+ songs in my phone memory. It's what I like to call "Wild Wednesday"...
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson
We begin with the opening track to the best selling album of all time - because of course we do... Thriller was more than album... It came out in 1982 when I was 16 years old. By that time, I was already migrating from having an interest in Top 40 pop music toward more diverse tastes. Thriller though kind of stood outside of all that. All of the controversy regarding Michael Jackson was still years away. The songs, the production (Quincy Jones), and the videos combined to make this an event that was impossible to ignore. The album has sold over 65 million copies worldwide.
"We are The Selfish Ones" by Cowboy Junkies
The shuffle continues with a live version of a track from The Wilderness - the 2012 album by Cowboy Junkies (it was part 4 of their Nomad series).
"Share Your Adderall" by Mike Thomas
Mike Thomas is a country singer-songwriter from Middle Tennessee. He often can be found performing down in Dickson. I featured this song sometime back, and it has made its way back into the shuffle. I could not find a video of him - but here is a link to his ReverbNation page.
"Wild Way" by Tori Amos
Moving on, we have a track from the 2014 fourteenth studio album by Tori Amos. The album is called Unrepentant Geraldines.
"To Hell with Love" by John D. Loudermilk
Next up, we have the lead-off track from singer-songwriter John D. Loudermilk's 1966 album Sings a Bizarre Collection of Most Unusual Songs. Loudermilk, who passed away last year, is best known for the songs he wrote for other people including Paul Revere and the Raiders, Everly Brothers, and many more.
"im fine" by Ugggy
Yesterday, I talked about the newest release from Ugggy. It is called STŒND ALŒN (uncollected thots) and it was released Monday. Today, we have our first listen to this release, and it finds Ugggy at the top of his game. This song came up as I was strolling across the map of the state of Tennessee this morning. So raw and yet focused. This is primo stuff. Ugggy (Justus) is one of those incredible artists and people that I feel fortunate to know and who I probably would never even know about if it were not for E2TG.
"Alfred the Hog" by David Amram
David Amram is composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and author. This track is taken from the 10 CD set The Early Years: The Kerrville Folk Festival. He holds six honorary doctorates. More recently, he appeared on Richard Barone's Sorrows and Promises accompanying Barone on Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises". Amram's music has spanned classical, jazz, and folk music.
"The Divided Tape Intro" by Ugggy
We close today's shuffle with the Intro to The Divided Tape by Ugggy which came out on March 1.
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