Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - Rails on Rails Mix

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Very short on time... last night was great. The finale of the October Crackerboots residency - with Peter Cooper opening accompanied by Tom Jutz. I love Peter Cooper's songs so much, plus he closed with "Boulder to Birmingham" by Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff, which I love.

Great show for the late show - loved The Battlefield - who I last and first saw three years ago at a New Faces night at The Basement. They from L.A., and I really dig their music.  And course, Don Gallardo.  His songs!  Man!  Adam Kurtz was on pedal steel - which serves as a transition...

Tonight, among what I am sure are a ton of worth things - including some that I would really like to see, Zach Schmidt will be celebrating the release of his new album, The Day We Lost the War. There will be special guest galore - and it's free (BYOB) at imogene + willie. 7pm. SHARP! Oh yeah, the transition... Adam Kurtz will be playing this show, too.

Let's throw it back... minimal commentary due to time constraints...

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - You Fixin' a Ford Mix

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Sue Havlish and I recorded a Double Shot with Joe and Sue show which will be broadcast on July 16.  Meanwhile, we will be back in the studio on Saturday for a live show with the theme of "Our Favorite Years."  Sue and I will each select songs which were released during what we have identified as our favorite year.

I messed around with posting an MP3 to YouTube and posted this video for one of my poems... I posted this to Facebook, but in case you missed it....




Tonight is one of those Nashville nights where there is a ton of things going on... I want to recommend that whatever you do, your night start with Don Gallardo's residency at The 5 Spot. This is the 4th of 5 weeks.  I have made it to the last three and they have been absolutely amazing. The one and only Jon Byrd is the special guest this week.

This weekend is Nashville Pride, and it seems more important than ever to support the LGBTQ community.  Daphne Willis (who we have featured on E2TG a few times) will be performing on the main stage at 1:15 on Saturday.  She is a phenomenal Nashville pop artist. Her latest single is called, "The Struggle is Real" (and it is)....

Meanwhile, it is actually Thursday and that means, it is time for us to throw it back.... Today's list (I can say with some confidence) is one that you will only see and hear on E2TG!!

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - How We Wonder Mix

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Less than two weeks until the E2TG 5 Year Anniversary Extravaganza!

Last night was a great night of music... 

It began with the opening night of the RB Morris residency at The 5 Spot with Jon Byrd opening.  Two super-talented songwriters/singers backed by amazing bands.  Next week, RB Morris' guests will be Lowell Levinger aka "Banana" of The Youngbloods and Tim Lee 3!  The following week 2/3 of Tim Lee 3 (aka BARK) will be part of the Ear to the Ground Anniversary show!

After the early show, I headed to The Country for Drew Kohl's 1 Year Anniversary show for his record, Sweetheart.  You may recall that I reviewed that album last year. The bill also included Kiely Schlesinger and Taylor Alexander.  Seeing all those folks and running into Jon Latham, I was reminded of an epic night in the fall of 2014 when I first heard all of those folks for the first time. 

Now, it is time for Throwback Thursday.  You know, when I started Ear to the Ground, I was struggling to get my hands on new music to feature, and so it was by necessity that I had tons of old songs (classics/rarities/whatever) in my playlist.  Today, I could probably keep a pretty decent sized playlist going with just new releases being sent my way.

So, you may ask, why keep loading old songs into your playlist?  It is pretty simple really. I believe that all music is connected in some way.  By playing both new and old songs, helps me to put new music into context and brings the connections into sharper focus.

Throwback Thursday Morning Shuffle - No Secrets To Reveal Mix

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As I predicted, last night was fun.  Tim Carroll, Tommy Womack, Jon Byrd, Joe Nolan, and Andrew Adkins put on one of the best and most diverse songwriter events I have seen in a long time - at The Country.  They are all excellent songwriters coming from different backgrounds and working in and out of different genres or styles of music, and together they represented well the rich tapestry of Music City.

In a rare moment of perfect timing, I had just enough time to say my goodbyes at The Country, and I made my way to The 5 Spot for Sara Syms, Carrie Welling, and Lindsay Ellyn.  Sara Syms sounded fantastic as always with her excellent band. 

Carrie Welling (who I had seen once before) has some great songs and an amazing voice. She was backed by a guitar player. 

It has been a little while since I had seen Lindsay Ellyn doing a full band show, and it was every bit as good as I remember it.  Her song, "Glory, Glory" became a joyous sing-a-long.

Beyond all the hype, the truth remains that there is a ton of great music going on just about every night in Nashville.

Tonight , I recommend Darrin Bradbury at Little Harpeth Taproom, Fats Kaplin with guest Paul Burch at The 5 Spot, Beet Root Revival at The Basement,  and The Cordovas at The Family Wash.  While, it is logistically impossible to hit all of these shows, I highly recommend any of them.


Well, it is Thursday - let's throw it back...

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Rich After Than Before Mix

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One of those moment where music connects me to a moments in my life: I went to The 5 Spot last night to see songwriting legend Don Schlitz, who has written so many great songs including several Mary Chapin Carpenter songs and Forever and Ever, Amen.  He was pretty phenomenal and funny, but when he sang The Gambler which was the first of his songs to be recorded, I literally felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  I was twelve years old when The Gambler was released, and you heard it everywhere.  When I was in seventh grade, a girl asked me out (a first for me), and when I called her we talked about a lot of things and I asked her what music she liked and we talked about Kenny Rogers and this song. Later, when I turned 21 and went to buy beer and get carded, that same girl was working in the convenience store where I went and she didn't even card me.  A few years ago, I heard that girl (woman) had been killed in a car accident.  Anyway, all those thoughts went through my head as I sang along to the words I still knew so well. Oh and I got to "fist bump" Don Schlitz last night.  Pretty cool...

To the shuffle:

Tuesday Afternoon Music Shuffle - Iced In Part II Mix

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Still at home, even more bored, but I did finally join seemingly everyone on my Facebook news feed and finally watched the SNL 40 special.
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Lesley Gore passed away yesterday. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've referenced her most famous song.




On to today's shuffle:

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - If You Don't Know Mix

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Getting back on schedule...

ICYMI:  Check out my review of Dale Watson and Rosie Flores at Exit/In.

If you are in Nashville this evening, head on over to City Winery Nashville. A great night of music is on tap with #E2TG Artist of the Year Darrin Bradbury kicking things off at 8:00 sharp so don't be late. $5.00 to hear some really great people make really cool music.



Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - The Motel Angels Sing Mix

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Temperatures started plunging yesterday in Nashville, but your favorite music blogger didn't let that stop him from exploring some of the city's mid-week music offerings.  And neither did I.  Here's the scorecard: 1. Hanging out with one of my favorite musician's managers and a top notch Nashville singer/songwriter and watching the granddaughter of an outlaw country music legend rock the house. 2. Meeting said granddaughter and some of her band. 3. Watching three of the absolute best songwriters around kick off their tour. 4. Making triumphant return to Fran's Eastside (first time since December 17?) and hanging with some cool folks and hearing some amazing music from some of my insanely talented friends.  Yeah!

This morning, it was as cold as... well you'll have to come up with your own saying, I'm still too cold to think straight.  Here are the songs that valiantly tried to keep me warm... well they sure made being cold more tolerable.

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Election Analysis Mix

With just 8 hours left to vote, just 8 votes separates first and second place in our Band of the Month Poll.  If you haven't voted, the poll is over on the left sidebar.  Just make your selection and click on the appropriate box and hit the Vote button.


We have 5 classic tracks to present today so let's get to it.



 Sometime back, Rolling Stone came out with one of their Best Albums of all time lists, and I perused that list and began acquiring some of  the albums which struck my fancy.  By this time, I was familiar with Richard Thompson, but didn't know much about his lengthy career.  Ryko reissued a bunch of Richard and Linda Thompson stuff, and I picked up this album along with the also excellent, Shoot Out the Lights. First up on my shuffle today, is the title track - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - which is one of my favorites songs of all time.  To find out more about the album just click on the album cover above.



 I have often said, in a perfectly just world, this album would have gone multi-platinum and Marshall Crenshaw would be the biggest name on the planet.  His catalog which began with this eponymous album includes some of the of the purest pop music of all time.  Someday, Someway is one of his most well known songs.  Since, it is not a perfectly just world, I will continue to write and speak about Marshall Crenshaw and his brilliant career.  If you're already a fan, drag out your old vinyl, cassette or CD or fire up your MP3 player and give a listen.  If you're not yet a fan, start your Marshall Crenshaw collection by checking out his debut by clicking the link above.




I was 12 years old in 1978, and still a few years away from having my life changed by rock 'n' roll. But in retrospect the Starburst 2 Record Set pictured above may have foreshadowed my future as a super fan of music. Here is a rundown of the music contained on these two slabs of vinyl.

Starburst (K-Tel, 1978)

Record One / Side One:
Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
Hot Child In The City - Nick Guilder
Shame - Evelyn 'Champagne' King
Boogie Nights - Heatwave
Every Kinda People - Robert Palmer
Record One / Side Two:
It's A Heartache - Bonnie Tyler
Handy Man - James Taylor
Emotion - Samantha Sang
Smoke From A Distant Fire - The Sanford/Townsed Band
Record Two / Side One:
Two Out of Three Ain't Band - Meat Loaf
My Angel Baby - Toby Beau
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late - Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams
I'm Not Goona Let It Bother Me Tonight - Atlanta Rhythm Section

Record Two / Side Two:
Dance With Me - Peter Brown
You & I - Rick James Stone Band
Get Off - Foxy
I Can't Stand the Rain - Eruption
Baby Hold On - Eddie Money

There were a few songs that my younger self dug,  but for whatever reason the Nick Gilder song, Hot Child in the City stuck with me. The driving guitar, the falsetto voice, the risque lyrics and the androgynous picture of Nick Gilder on the record jacket... To an impressionable kid from a small college town in Tennessee, this was a new world.  I still love the song today....  I can't tell you where you can find a copy of Starburst, but if you want to check out The Best of Nick Gilder click on the album cover above.

 A few years after I bought the Starburst album, a new cable television channel burst on the scene.  Yes, kids, what you've been told is true - at one time MTV stood for Music Television.  In those days, music videos were pretty rare.  Newer bands were more likely to make a video than established artists.  As a result, I got introduced to a whole slew of bands I'm not sure if I would ever been exposed to if it weren't for MTV. Love Plus One was one of  those songs that got in my head. Looking back, it's a slightly cheesy bit of 80s pop candy, but when I first saw the video, it was something fresh and new.   You can revel in the majesty that is Haircut 100 by clicking on the album cover above to read more about the Deluxe Edition of Pelican West which contains, Love Plus One.

I don't have a big story to go with Little Bribes by Death Cab for Cutie.  Just to say, I really love this song.  Check out The Open Door EP by clicking on the album cover above.


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History Lesson (Songs) #1 - Driver 8 - R.E.M.

A good while back, I created a playlist on my MP3 player called '100'.  It was kind of my 100 favorite songs of all time - except I'm fickle - so it was really just 100 songs I really, really like. Over time, I would get another songs I really, really liked and just added to this list.  Eventually, the '100' playlist had grown to about 113.  Occasionally, I would look at the list and make edits add or delete to suit my current fancy.  Just the other day, I whittled down the list back to 100.  Rest assured this is still not a definitive list - it will change, but it's a good survey of some cool songs that have helped to shape my musical tastes. I would like to begin here in presenting this songs for your infotainment. Many of you will probably at least be aware of most of these songs, but you never know, and I know I sure need a memory jolt every once in awhile.  Shall we begin...




Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables - which I always preferred)  (1985) was R.E.M.'s third album and marked a new era for the band.  They recorded in England with veteran producer Joe Boyd after recording their first two albums with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. Boyd had produced Fairport Convention, Richard and Linda Thompson, Nick Drake and Jimi Hendrix among others. In 1985, he also produced The Wishing Chair by 10,000 Maniacs. Maybe not coincidentally, I saw R.E.M. and 10,000 Maniacs together in November of 1985.


For some reason, I've always connected with Fables more than other R.E.M. album.  Their unique brand of Southern mysticism and Gothic charm somehow coalesced on this release. Songs like Green Grow the Rushes and Wendell Gee and especially Driver 8 felt true and relevant to me. I've always believed it was due to my having grown up in the South and yet always having felt like a stranger in my own land.


"And the train conductor said..." Trains have always been powerful symbols for me. At the same time, they are symbols of progress and relics of an earlier time. Train tracks were symbols of the possibility of escape and a tie to the bigger world beyond what I know.


"Fields of wheat are looking thin..."  The imagery of a train passing through fields of wheat... I grew up in a smaller town, but I usually think of myself as a city boy, but and so there is a romantic notion of farms and rural America.


"The power lines have rotors so the airplanes don't get smashed..."  Despite all of the talk about the negative health impact of those tall, high-tension power lines, I've also been drawn to these towers. Like the railroad tracks, the power lines were a connection.  Growing up without the internet, and feeling the need for their to be more to the world than the little piece I knew, I needed reminders of the world outside my window. Books and music and less railroad tracks served that purpose and helped me through my young life (which in retrospect wasn't so bad after all, but trying telling that to my younger self).


It's been over 25 years now, and I still haven't grown tired of this song, and now it takes me back to a world which no longer exists and to a time which is long gone.  As the Gunslinger said, "The world has moved on."




(The song) 

 (The album)


Next up, Travelin' Light by Peter Case

Thursday Morning (Covers) Music Shuffle - Memories of Rain Mix

Rainy morning...

Another friendly reminder, if you haven't voted in the 1st Annual Ear to the Ground Band of the Year Readers Poll (or even if you have) time is running out.  At midnight tonight, 12/15/2011 (all times Central Standard Time), voting will be turned off. And precincts will begin reporting in... go  here  to vote.

Track 1:

Coverer:  Radiohead formed in 1985 - so they had been around 10 years when I saw them live opening for R.E.M. on a rainy evening in September 1995 which happened to be C and my first night out following the birth of our twins in July of that year.  

Coveree: Joy Division formed in 1976.  They were a preeminent force in the new music scene of the late 70s early 80s.  Lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980 just before the bands first ever US tour.  The remaining members carried on as New Order. 

The Song: Ceremony was actually a New Order song, but it was one of the last songs written with Ian Curtis and would have been a Joy Division song if...

The Cover:  Radiohead recorded Ceremony as part of their 2007 "Thumbs Down" webcast.

Track 2:

Coverer: John Zorn is an avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer and saxophonist. He has worked with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson and formed the jazz-punk collective Naked City in 1988.  Yamantaka Eye is  a Japanese vocalist and visual artist. He is a member of the Boredoms who formed in 1986 (possibly earlier).

Coveree: The Stooges (aka Iggy & the Stooges) were and are a ground-breaking band who formed in 1967 and laid important groundwork for punk and alternative music. The disbanded in 1974, but reformed in 2003.  Mike Watt of Minutemen and fIREHOSE fame is currently a member of the Stooges.


The Song: T.V. Eye is a track off the Stooge's second album, Fun House. 


The Cover: John Zorn with Yamantaka Eye on screamed vocals recorded a break-neck paced version of T.V.Eye which appeared on the 1990 compilation double-CD Rubaiyat for Elektra Records 40th Anniversary.


Track 3:

Coverer: Dave Alvin was a founding member of the legendary punk-era, roots rock band The Blasters, was a one-time member of X and is a member of X side project The Knitters.  In addition, he has had a prolific solo career.

Coveree: The Beach Boys formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, reflected the California youth lifestyle of surf, cars and romance. Later, leader Brian Wilson took the band into a more complex sound.

The Song:  Surfer Girl was the title track to the bands 1963 album. It was one of the first songs written solely by Brian Wilson.

The Cover: Dave Alvin covered Surfer Girl on his 2006 album West of the West which featured covers of several songs which originated from the western United States.

Track 4:

Coverer: The Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band which formed in 1967 as Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals and solidified into its current line-up in the 1980s and became the Del McCoury Band in 1988.

Coveree:  Richard Thompson was an original member of Fairport Convention, the legendary British Folk-Rock/Electric Folk band.  He left Fairport Convention in 1971, released a solo album in 1972 and then begin recording and performing with his then wife Linda Thompson.  Since their personal and professional split, he has had a successful solo career.

The Song:  1952 Vincent Black Lightning  appeared on his 1991 album Rumor & Sigh.  The song which harkens back to traditional English melodies and early 20th Century American folk songs.

The Cover: Del McCoury Band recorded a bluegrass cover of 1952 Vincent Black Lightning  on the 2001 album Del and the Boys and has subsequently become a Bluegrass staple.

Shuffle through today's artists and songs:

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New Order: New Order Story From the ashes of Joy Division rose one of the most successful dance-pop bands of all time, New Order. In this probing documentary directed by filmmaker Kevin Hewitt and produced by Paul Morley, archival footage, performance footage, and interviews with t

Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury