E2TG 3/19/2020 - The Long Haul, Isolation, Music - Texas, Texas Mix (Gold Ghosts Remix)

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Obviously, this is a challenging time in many ways for many people.

I think about how I have used the word overwhelmed or overwhelming in the past, I feel like I was so naive and over-dramatic. But, this all is truly overwhelming. There is information overload and many of us have more time on our hands to worry or obsess or binge on social media.

Just some observations that I have (take with a grain of salt - I guess - I don't know that I have any special insight).

1. Take this seriously without panicking
2. Use social media to connect with friends and family and for entertainment
3. Be cautious about any second hand or greater information. Check with verifiable legitimate sources. 
4. Check on your friends and family- especially those with physical or mental health issue. 
5. Do things that bring you joy - without guilt. (watch a silly movie - there will be time to "save the world" later).
6. Support causes and people as you are able. 
7. Reach out if you need to - if you can. Talk to people about your fears and your worries. Many of us are in the same boat or a similar boat. You are not alone - even if you are in self-isolation.
8. As much as I would love to say put politics aside during this crisis... well... what I will say, to the extent possible - put politics aside on an individual basis - as you are able. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I am fortunate enough to being working from home. This is new to me, and I have had to learn to stay focused. But, and again I say I am fortunate, this work has kept me in some sort of routine. It has always bothered me a little that I am very much a creature of habit. I mean, I like to think of myself as a free spirit. But, what I have realized, these past couple of weeks, is that I use routines as a tool for dealing with anxiety. I must quickly add that I do not think my anxiety is very bad but it is there nonetheless. Little routines help, I think.  Well, almost every one of my routines have been methodically stripped away. So, I am finding new routines. This may or may not resonate with you, but if you have lost routines and are feeling anxious, maybe try to find new routines. Showering every day, even if you live alone and aren't going out.

I am trying to keep up the routine of writing E2TG every day. Maybe this helps someone, or maybe it is just for me and my routine. Either way is okay with me.

    Featured Friday Playlist

Look for a new Featured Friday Playlist tomorrow!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Demon Gold Mix

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#E2TG6 Coming May 2017 - Details soon!


Greetings from a rainy Tuesday.  Last night, I attended the premiere (I think) edition of Madison Guild Mondays at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge.  Last night was hosted by none other than 2014 E2TG Artist of the Year Darrin Bradbury.  Songwriters featured included: Zach Schmidt, Adam Kurtz (of Buck N Stuff fame), Tim Easton, Don Gallardo, Matt Haeck, Steven Knudson, Javi Jones, Jon Latham and more. Darrin closed the night joined by Laur Joamets on guitar.


I will probably be ranting more tomorrow about the insanity in which we find ourselves. Until then: #Resist!

It is Tuesday and time to shuffle up some songs from the "New Music" playlist. Enjoy! (by the way, I could not find many of the exact songs on YouTube - so enjoy a mix of other songs by the artists featured)...

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Indonesian Fog and the Rain Mix

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Friday, another fun night at Tim Carroll Rock and Roll Happy Hour.  Just about the best hang, I know with some kick ass rock and roll music to boot.

Saturday,  David Olney killed it at Bobby's Idle Hour, and Patrick Kinsley and a Fistful of Dollars, Cataline Crime, and Zach Schmidt put on a hell of a show at The 5 Spot.

Tonight, one of the finest songwriters of our time is making his debut on Colbert. America, prepare to be blown away by John Moreland - as I have every time I have seen him perform.

I cannot believe it is February already...  To start off the week and the month, we have a random shuffle that makes no sense whatsoever, but which was a whole ton of fun to hear during my commute.

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Joy and Sorrow Mix

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It's my birthday, and I'll cry if I want to...

My Birthday Week continues.  Last night included two stops along the way.  Week 2 of the Jason Ringenberg January Jam residency rolled on... This week guest was Peter Cooper with Chuck Mead joining Jason and Peter for a rendition of The Louvin Brothers classic, "The Christian Life".  Ringenberg really seems to be enjoying this residency - I know I sure am... Next week's guest is Tommy Womack!

From there, I headed to Mad Donna's Loft where I caught the tail end of Simon Reid's set which sounded great, and then witnessed two rocking sets from the always awesome Renee Wahl (who will be releasing some new music soon!) and Brian Langlinais (who will also be releasing some new music soon!). Both Renee and Brian were backed by top notch bands.

Now the "crying": two late nights in a row has worn me out, but I will press on... tonight, the fine folks at The Basement East were kind enough to schedule the grand opening of their new Pub for my birthday.  So, I will be hanging out there this evening. The party begins at 6:00 with some awesome folks doing wicked cool covers beginning at 8:00.

On to the shuffle:

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Just for One Day Mix

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We move on... 

Last night was Week 2 of the Darrin Bradbury Residency at The Basement East. It also happened to be Stop 2 of my Birthday Week excursions. A great night of music spent with some amazing friends...

Tim Easton opened the night with a cover of David Bowie's "Five Years" which was really good. He followed with a set of old and new songs some of which featured Megan Palmer on fiddle.

Zach Schmidt backed by Adam Kurtz on pedal steel were next.  Zach's song and voice get to me every time.

Darrin Bradbury closed the night with a spirited set that included a new arrangement of his classic song, "Swordfish".  He brought out guest Margo Price and Adam Kurtz again for a couple of songs before closing the night with an amazing cover of "Ziggy Stardust". 

Tonight: There are two stops on my Birthday tour. First, I will be at The Basement for an industry showcase featuring Sara Syms.  From there, I am going to move over to The 5 Spot for $2 Tuesdays - Derek Hoke's weekly extravaganza.  This week's lineup includes Ashleigh Flynn and Jon Langford. Langford is best known as a member of the bands The Mekons and The Waco Brothers.

On to the shuffle...

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:

Featured Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - At the Crack of Noon Mix

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Rolling on toward Thanksgiving.   Keep an eye out for the 1st Annual E2TG Awards - 2015 - which I calling "The Earies". (Tagline: "The Earies, it sounds strange but it's really not"). 

About "The Earies":  I will begin announcing the awards around the first of December and continue on and off throughout the month.  There will not be nominees - because no matter how much people say that it was an honor to be nominated... well, you know.  Also, we will have recipients and not "winners".  This is for two reasons, 1. Calling someone a winner may imply that others are "losers".  2. The recipients may think there is some sort of cash reward, which there is not.  Nor are there actual awards.  It is an honorary honor.

The awards will culminate with the naming of the 5th Annual Ear to the Ground Artist of the Year.

There will not be fan voting, sorry.  Although we had fun in 2011 and 2012 running Readers Polls, I decided at the end of 2012 to suspend the practice. 

Bribes will be accepted and the awards will probably go to the highest bidder. 

Anyone caught taking the awards too seriously, will be severely teased.

All the awards are not all that serious, what I am serious about is taking another opportunity to recognize some of the great music that came my way in 2015.

In other news, after Thanksgiving, pending my getting in a bunch of seasonal music, I am thinking of having a once-a-week shuffle from a playlist filled with such songs. I am debating what to call the playlist.  Christmas is too specific as their may be songs that have nothing to do with Christ's birth.  Holiday Playlist will probably piss off people - since apparently Holiday is a nasty word or something.  I may just call it the Red Cup Playlist.  We shall see.

We have another featured music shuffle today - featuring some favorites (old and new) and some artists hitting the shuffle for the first time.

Featured Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Usually From a Can Mix

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Had a good time last night celebrating Andrew Leahey's birthday at The 5 Spot.  Darrin Bradbury was on point with a set that featured some old favorites and some excellent new (and newish) songs.  Lauren Farrah was most excellent - I have been fortunate enough to catch her a few times recently, and she kills it every time.  And the birthday boy rocked this house with his incredible band, The Homestead - playing several songs from his record which is due out in April.

On to the shuffle: Almost every Friday is Featured Friday on #E2TG.  Which means, I shuffle songs from a playlist (a subset of the regular playlist) loaded with songs from artists/albums that I want to spotlight.  Here is the latest....

Featured Friday Music Shuffle - Sweethearts Gone Mix

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Okay... this has to be a fast one.  I walked over to the Southern Festival of Books during my lunch break (when I usually write and post the blog) to see Julie Christensen and part of Stone Cupid (Chris Tench and Sergio Webb). They killed it as usual.

Last night - quickly - some highlights: Week 2 Campfire Propaganda Residency... guests Ariel Buie and Actual Wolf.  Megan Palmer - on keyboard playing a new song and a John Moreland song. Nellie Clay with Actual Wolf, Tim Easton as usual, Brian Wright - fighting jet lag and killing it (with Aaron Lee Tasjan for a couple of songs), Darrin Bradbury and Megan Palmer - Darrin leading his own more of meditation...

Coverfest at Basement East!!!  Major props to Terry Rickards for putting this together.  Everyone was great, and I don't have time for a full report, but I will just say Los Colognes doing Bob Dylan's Infidels album in its entirety and nailing it and Allen Thompson Band as The Eagles were my absolute favorites (it was all good). The Eagles segment was so much fun!

Also, ICYMI - #E2TG posted the new single from Zachariah Red this morning. 
Check it out here.

Shuffle....

Featured Friday Morning Music Shuffle - The Black Bruce Wayne Mix

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Well... another work week is just about done... Since it is Friday, it means it is time for Featured Friday in which we shuffle songs from a smaller subset of our usual playlist. This subset includes mostly songs from albums released this year which have been sent or given to me to include at Ear to the Ground.

Let's just do it....

Featured Friday Music Shuffle - Young Enough Mix

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Guess what? We've reached the end of another work week!  Here's to the weekend! 

Last night, I had the great pleasure of experiencing the second ever Aqua Velvet - Exotic Sounds in Country Music show.  It was pretty fantastic.  For a more detailed account. Check out my review over at No Depression.

Since it is Friday, we have a featured Friday Shuffle to take us all into the weekend... sit back and enjoy the "show"....

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - That Thin Disguise Mix

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Did you know that Ear to the Ground contributes over $500,000 to the economy every month?  And that we employee over 500 full-time and an additional 500 part time employees?   Okay... none of  that is true, but it does keep me busy and thus (mostly) out of trouble - which is in and of itself a good public service. 

Apologies for the untruths... but they were just little white lies which not coincidently leads us directly into the first song from our shuffle...

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - One More Time Mix

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So... much happening.  I was in a car for about half of yesterday.  I have just been catching up with the news out of South Carolina. Sending out good thoughts to all those who lost loved ones.  And sending out as much love as I can muster for this country in hopes that we can finally begin address some of the many issues which lead to this terrible event.  I am not optimistic about things, but I remain hopeful.  If that makes sense.

Switching gears... If you are in Nashville tonight, I recommend heading down to the Basement East for a benefit for Allen Thompson.  Even if the music wasn't going to be good, you should support this because Allen is a great guy.  But this is East Nashville and the music is going to be spectacular.  Even if Allen wasn't a great guy, you should go because the music is going to spectacular.  But Allen is a great guy.


On to the Friday Shuffle!

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Beautiful Bones Mix

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Another great night of music in Nashville - both the shows I saw and those I wasn't able to see (can only be in one place at a time!).  What I saw:  Lindsay Ellyn had her EP release show at Two Old Hippies in the Gulch, and once again demonstrated why I have been so impressed with her music since I met her last fall.  It's a simple formula that not too many can or will follow.  Start with great songs, surround yourself with top-notch talent, treat others kindly, and work hard. Her EP Out of Road is out and available at the usual places, and it comes highly recommended by #E2TG.

After Lindsay's show, I hopped over to 3rd and Lindsley for the Bobby Memphis Benefit show. It was a great night for a great cause, and I finally got to see the Human Radio live and her both their classics and some awesome new songs.  (Read my Review on No Depression). To donate to the Bobby Memphis fund - visit the Go Fund Me page.

 Human Radio reformed at the end of 2014 and they are in the midst of a Kickstarter Campaign for a new album and tour. 

Whew!  Btw, another great night of music on tap for tonight!  Shuffle did you say?

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Games People Play Mix

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Did you miss me?  I'm back after a two day absence with another shuffle of songs across a broad musical spectrum.  Meanwhile, it is Friday! So let's celebrate!

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Later Than You Think Mix

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You know the Nashville Conundrum I mentioned a couple of weeks ago?  Well the is a addendum to that conundrum (or something like that).. that is... there are amazing things happening every single night of the week, and (especially if you work a day job), there are nights that you just have to stay in to recharge, refresh, and do some of your own work...  Last night was one of those nights, and yes, I missed some amazing things happening around town, but I am glad that I stayed in, and I got something accomplished...

Case in point, I added a couple of things to my Soundcloud... bits and pieces from my novel-in-progress which you can check out... (there may be some NSFW language/themes, depending where or if you work...)





On to the shuffle: