www.ptsroadhouse.com
Candy- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Welcome to show 17- “Confessin’, Odds and Ends and Candy”.
We kick off the show and the Candy set with Tom Petty- sweet!
They had me at, “I sure like that candy. I don’t go for them turnip greens.” Oh yeah.
Compared to the heavy metal and art rock that dominated mid-’70s guitar rock, the Heartbreakers’ bracing return to roots was nearly as unexpected as the crashing chords of the Clash. As time progressed, it became clear that the band didn’t break from tradition like their punk contemporaries. Instead, they celebrated it, culling the best parts of the British Invasion, American garage rock, and Dylanesque singer/songwriters to create a distinctively American hybrid that recalled the past without being indebted to it.
Petty & the Heartbreakers spent 1986 on tour as Bob Dylan’s backing band. Dylan contributed to the lead single “Jammin’ Me,” from the Heartbreakers’ next album, Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), which was released to mixed reviews in the spring of 1987. Just after the record’s release, Petty’s house and most of his belongings were destroyed by fire; he, his wife, and two daughters survived unscathed.
During 1988, Petty became a member of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, which also featured Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.-Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic.com
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been one of America’s greatest live bands since their first club tours and opening-act jobs, in 1976 and ’77. Lethal garage-rock modernists with pop-hook savvy, they’ve always had the chops and empathy to make a studio record like Mojo: everybody in one room, going for the master take together and getting it fast. They just took 34 years to work up the nerve.
It was worth the wait. Mojo is dynamite !You don’t get that kind of cool with Pro Tools and Auto-Tune. It takes a great band, playing as one for the toughest audience in the world: itself.-David Fricke, Rolling Stone
Tom Petty, who turns 60 this year, has reached a glorious yet potentially complicated stage in his career. He’s got the box sets. He’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s recorded countless pop smashes. His band, the Heartbreakers, stands as one of America’s indisputably great working musical ensembles. -Steve Dollar, PasteMagazine.com
In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On December 6, 2005, Petty received the Billboard Century Award for his lifetime achievements. The same year, Conversations with Tom Petty, an oral history/biography composed of interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Petty by music journalist Paul Zollo, was published (ISBN 1-84449-815-8).
Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary film on Petty’s career entitled Runnin’ Down A Dream premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 14, 2007.-Wikipedia
Candy Man- Roy Orbison
Here’s another tune which probably should have been a bigger hit. Perfect for the Candy set!
In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.
Orbison finally found his voice with Monument Records, scoring a number-two hit in 1960 with “Only the Lonely.” This established the Roy Orbison persona for good: a brooding rockaballad of failed love with a sweet, haunting melody, enhanced by his Caruso-like vocal trills at the song’s emotional climax. These and his subsequent Monument hits also boasted innovative, quasi-symphonic production, with Roy’s voice and guitar backed by surging strings, ominous drum rolls, and heavenly choirs of backup vocalists.
Between 1960 and 1965, Orbison would have 15 Top 40 hits for Monument, including such nail-biting mini-dramas as “Running Scared,” “Crying,” “In Dreams,” and “It’s Over.” Not just a singer of tear-jerking ballads, he was also capable of effecting a tough, bluesy swagger on “Dream Baby,” “Candy Man,” and “Mean Woman Blues.” In fact, his biggest and best hit was also his hardest-rocking: “Oh, Pretty Woman” soared to number one in late 1964, at the peak of the British Invasion.
Orbison’s return to the public eye came about through unexpected circumstances. In the mid-’80s, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet film prominently featured “In Dreams” on its soundtrack. That led to the singer making an entire album of re-recordings of hits, with T-Bone Burnett acting as producer. The record was no substitute for the originals, but it did help restore him to prominence within the industry. Shortly afterward, he joined George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne in the Traveling Wilburys. Their successful album set the stage for Orbison’s best album in over 20 years, Mystery Girl, which emulated the sound of his classic ’60s work without sounding hackneyed. By the time it reached the charts in early 1989, however, Orbison was dead, claimed by a heart attack in December 1988. Richie Unterberger, AllMusic.com
Roy Orbison Quotes
“Roy Orbison was the only act that The Beatles didn’t want to follow.” -Ringo Starr
“Absolutely no one like him before or since.” -Bonnie Raitt
“Arguably the first true voice in Rock and Roll. ” -Lemmy Kilmister
“He could do things with his voice that I could only dream of doing.” -Eric Clapton
“Everybody knows that nobody sings like Roy Orbison.” -Bruce Springsteen
?I?ve never been more moved by a voice than I have been by Roy Orbison.? -Dolly Parton
“He just hated to lay his guitar down.” -Sam Phillips
“A brave, beautiful blessing of a man.” -Kris Kristofferson
Candy- Big Maybelle
What a pleasure this legend on the show. Wow- does she ever nail this one! No wonder it received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
A lot of folks might remember hearing this song on a “Cosby” episode. “So that’s where!”
Sad how she only lived to be 47. Check out the cool historic pics.
Her mountainous stature matching the sheer soulful power of her massive vocal talent, Big Maybelle was one of the premier R&B chanteuses of the 1950s. Her deep, gravelly voice was as singular as her recorded output for Okeh and Savoy, which ranged from down-in-the-alley blues to pop-slanted ballads. In 1967, she even covered ? & the Mysterians’ “96 Tears” (it was her final chart appearance). Maybelle packed a lot of living into her shortened lifespan.
In 1955, she cut a rendition of “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On” a full two years before Louisiana piano pumper Jerry Lee Lewis got his hands and feet on it. Mendelsohn soon brought her over to Herman Lubinsky’s Savoy diskery, where her tender rendition of the pop chestnut “Candy” proved another solid R&B hit in 1956. Maybelle rocked harder than ever at Savoy, her “Ring Dang Dilly,” “That’s a Pretty Good Love,” and “Tell Me Who” benefiting from blistering backing by New York’s top sessioneers. Her last Savoy date in 1959 reflected the changing trends in R&B; Howard Biggs’ stately arrangements encompassed four violins. Director Bert Stern immortalized her vivid blues-belting image in his documentary Jazz on a Summer’s Day, filmed in color at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
Maybelle persevered throughout the ’60s, recording for Brunswick, Scepter (her “Yesterday’s Kisses” found her coping admirably with the uptown soul sound), Chess, Rojac (source of “96 Tears”), and other labels. But the good years were long gone when she slipped into a diabetic coma and passed away in a Cleveland hospital in 1972. -Bill Dahl, AllMusic.com
Big Maybelle sang with a powerful voice with a stage presence to match. Full-figured and powerful, “Big” Maybelle sang the blues with controlled abandon and a flair for style.
During the 1950’s, Maybelle sang with such greats as: The Quincy Jones Orchestra; the Kelly Owens Orchestra; the Danny Mendelsohn Orchestra and she also graced the stages of the Apollo Theatre in NYC and the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, RI.
Maybelle recorded many songs and hit the charts in 1953 when “Gabbin Blues” hit number three in 1953. “Although she had several more chartmakers, Maybelle was never able to achieve the stardom that her talent deserved. At her best, she was so strong that Billie Holiday once refused to follow her opening act. She could be awesomely powerful one moment and break your heart the next.” (From the liner notes in the “Essential Women – HOB” recording)-Lea Gilmore, http://www.p-dub.com/thang/maybelle.html
The Big Rock Candy Mountain- Steve Goodman
A whole generation got introduced to the song “Big Rock Candy Mountain” in the “O Brother Where Art Thou?” movie soundtrack. I love what Steve does to this song. Will get around to the movie soundtrack version one of these fine weeks!
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Goodman began writing and performing songs as a teenager. By 1969, after a brief sojourn in New York City’s Washington Square, Goodman was a regular performer at the well-known Earl of Old Town folk music club in Chicago, while attending Lake Forest College. During this time Goodman also married Nancy Pruter, and paid bills by writing and singing advertising jingles.
It was also during this time that Goodman wrote many of his most enduring songs, including “City of New Orleans”, the song which would become most associated with Goodman. Goodman’s songs first appeared on a locally-produced record, Gathering at the Earl of Old Town, in 1971. –http://www.stevegoodman.net/bio.shtml+
He was influenced by the folk revival of the early ’60s and by country performers such as Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams. After attending college in the mid-’60s, he turned to playing in Chicago clubs by night and writing commercial jingles by day. In 1971, he opened for Kris Kristofferson and was seen by Paul Anka, who financed demo recordings that led to a contract with Buddah Records and the release of Steve Goodman, which featured his train song “The City of New Orleans,” a Top 40 hit for Arlo Guthrie in 1972 and now a folk standard.
He left college after one year to pursue his musical career. In the early spring of 1967 Goodman went to New York, staying for a month in a Greenwich Village brownstone across the street from the Cafe Wha? where Goodman performed regularly during his brief stay there. Returning to Chicago he intended to restart his education but he dropped out again to pursue his musical dream full time after discovering the cause of his continuous fatigue was actually leukemia, the disease that would be present during the entirety of his recording career, until his death in 1984.
Later in 1971, Goodman was playing at a Chicago bar called the Quiet Knight as the opening act for Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson, impressed with Goodman, introduced him to Paul Anka, who brought Goodman to New York to record some demos. These resulted in Goodman signing a contract with Buddah Records.
All this time, Goodman had been busy writing many of his most enduring songs, and this avid songwriting would lead to an important break for him. While at the Quiet Knight, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie, and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that Goodman buy him a beer first; Guthrie would listen to Goodman for as long as it took Guthrie to drink the beer. Goodman played “City of New Orleans”, (original lyrics) which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. Guthrie’s version of the song became a Top 20 hit in 1972, and provided Goodman with enough financial and artistic success to make his music a full-time career. The song, about the Illinois Central’s City of New Orleans train, would become an American standard, covered by such musicians as Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins and Willie Nelson, whose recorded version earned Goodman a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1985. A French translation of the song, “Salut Les Amoureux”, was recorded by Joe Dassin in 1979. According to Goodman, the song was inspired by a train trip he and his wife took from Chicago to Mattoon, Illinois.[2]
In 2006, Goodman’s daughter, Rosanna, issued My Old Man, an album of a variety of artists covering her father’s songs.
Interest in Goodman’s career had a resurgence in 2007 with the publication of a massive biography by Clay Eals, Steve Goodman: Facing the Music. The same year, the Chicago Cubs began playing Goodman’s 1984 song “Go, Cubs, Go” after each home game win. When the Cubs made it to the playoffs, interest in the song and Goodman resulted in several newspaper articles about Goodman. Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn declared October 5, 2007 Steve Goodman Day in the state. In 2010, Illinois Representative Mike Quigley introduced a bill renaming the Lakeview post office on Irving Park Road in honor of Goodman. The bill was signed by President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010.[5]- Wikipedia
Steve was a master with the guitar. It was almost impossible for him to complete a concert without breaking a guitar string. Of course, Steve also had a tendency to put on one man shows. Now for most singers this would mean an apology was in order while the musician switched guitars, but not Steve. Steve would continue to sing in perfect rhythm while he reached into a pocket, pulled out a new string, replaced the string, retuned the guitar, and then pick up playing again, much to the amazement and enjoyment of the crowd. John Prine claimed that Goodman did this on purpose just to embarrass other guitar players.-http://www.cobo.org/goodman/sg.html#tidbits
People don’t understand the virtue of time, until their clock stops ticking.
– Steve Goodman
***
The Mandolin is the bottom four strings of the guitar, backwards…so a person with dyslexia has no problem learning to play the Mandolin.
– Steve Goodman
Dr. Handy’s Dandy Candy- Jim Ford
So glad I discovered this enigmatic artist a few years ago.
Nowadays, he’d fit perfectly into the whole Americana thang.
And what a personal story! I’ve included lots of accounts here because he is such a fascinating character.
His songs have been recorded by numerous artists, including Aretha Franklin, P.J. Proby, Bobby Womack, and The Temptations. Nick Lowe has cited Jim Ford as his biggest musical influence.- Wikipedia
Every so often I “discover” an artist who I thought was fairly obscure, until I begin to dig into their work and realize I must’ve been living under a rock or deaf?or both?to not have heard them previously. Such was my reaction to Ford and his excellent-indeed lone release, Harlan County.
Ford’s story reads like an cinematic tragedy, full of fact and legend documenting his brief rise and long, steady decline, only then to die during resurrection.
Growing up in Kentucky, Ford ran away to New Orleans as a teenager, living on the street, absorbing and incorporating the music there. By the mid ’60s, he reemerged in California. This is significant because those three landscapes simultaneously spill out of the speakers when you spin Harlan County. (And if you were to construct a geographic foundation for the Drunkard’s own musical leanings, it would probably map out much the same.)
1969’s Harlan County nods to Ford’s hometown in the Bluegrass State, punctuating a life there like an aural biography, not just for Ford, but for anyone coming of age in post-war coal-mining country during the late ’40s and ’50s. With arrangements and rhythm from Redbone and accompanied at times by the likes of James Burton and Dr. John, Harlan County travels separately through bluegrass country, country western, soul and funk, often weaving them together, as he does on the standout “I’m Gonna Make Her Love Me.”
The record, a dynamic masterpiece in terms of capturing a time and place, would seem to be the starting point for a decades-long climb into music history. Nick Lowe cited Ford as his biggest influence, and Sly Stone once called him “the funkiest white man I know.” But despite the niche acclaim, he sold precious few records, avoided live performances, partied like 10 men and mostly disappeared. In fact, his most significant contributions were made elsewhere as a songwriter, and almost entirely anonymously. He penned the Temptations’ 1976 record Wings of Love in its entirety. Bobby Womack’s “Harry Hippie” was his. And “Niky Hoeky! ” made famous by Aretha Franklin and refined by Bobbie Gentry also owes its words to Ford.
His legend lies elsewhere, however. He lived with Marlon Brando’s ex, Movita Castenada, for a decade in the ’60s and ’70s and was unofficial stepfather to two of Brando’s children. He posed in a Sergio Leone-inspired spaghetti-western Playboy spread when times were financially strained. He’s credited as a torchbearer in the London pub-rock movement (Elvis Costello is only Nick Lowe-removed from Ford), but his arrangements were so otherworldly by the early ’70s that not even Lowe’s band Brinsely Schwartz could adequately provide them for a record, so it was never produced. And once, in 1971, he exited a plane in a London airport with what is now said, as legend has it, to be a million dollars of cocaine strapped around his waste. His affinity for the drug was no secret, neither in song-see “Dr. Handy’s Dandy Candy” -nor in his life. He battled substance abuse for years, not sobering up until 2004. The only reason anyone even knows that much of the man is because Swedish music pub Sonic Magazine nearly impossibly tracked him down in 2006. At the time, he was living in a trailer Mendocino County, California, dozens of master tapes littering his floor, a trash heap of three decades worth of unreleased material.
This would be his resurrection after years of obscurity. Prompted by Sonic and others, Ford agreed to let German imprint Bear Family release Sounds of Our Time, a compilation that stacked 15 unreleased tracks on top of a re-issue of Harlan County. And by the fall of 2007, plans were in the works for 2008’s rare demo collection Point of No Return and a May 2008 “reunion” gig in London with Nick Lowe. But like most tragedy’s, the hero doesn’t survive his own legend. Three years sober and a career revival waiting, Jim Ford was found dead in his mobile home in November 2007.
The Bear Family compilations serve as nice homage to the artist, and the Temptations, Aretha and Nick Lowe offer significant reference points for his influence, but there’s no stronger testimony to his career and his country-soul-funk fusion than the standalone, excellent Harlan County. – j. crosby, http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2008/07/31/jim-ford-harlan-county-1969/
In the liner notes to recent cd reissue Sounds of Our Time Nick Lowe describes Jim Ford: “Jim Ford’s reputation was not the best. He told a lot of terrible stories and he used to bend the truth a bit. I think deep down he was no rock star, but he noticed people provided him with money when he pretended to be one. Many people who financed his career probably got disappointed when Ford didn’t care to live up to their expectations. He took a lot of people for a ride. I’d never seen anyone use cocaine before I met Ford. Wherever he went there were also illegal substances around. Ford was unreliable and from time to time he disappeared. We were surprised to find what kind of people he seemed to know in England. One time when he got back he had stayed with the blonde bombshell Diana Dors and her gangster-type husband Alan Lake!”
Nick also added this, “When Jim walked off the plane he wore a big Stetson, rose-tinted shades and jeans with creases and round-toe cowboy boots. I’d never met anyone like him before. Ford was the real thing, he was other-worldly and very charismatic. He turned up with a $3,000 guitar, an astronomical sum for 1970, but it seemed he could barely play it, and yet it was so mean, the way he hit that thing.
Jim Ford meant a lot of things to a lot of different people. Sly Stone claimed Ford was his best friend, Nick Lowe name checks him as a major inspiration, and British mod band the Koobas recorded an entire album of Harlan County songs (The Koobas even went as far as to change their name to Harlan County). His unique brand of country-rock-soul-funk has proven to be original and very influential.
The Harlan County LP was released by White Whale in 1969 and is evenly divided between covers and Jim Ford originals. Most people single out the title track and “I’m Gonna Make Her Love Me” as highlights, and they are great slices of hard country funk. “Harlan County,” the title track, has a nice horn arrangement, crisp, driving acoustic guitars, female backup vocalists and a great beat – it’s another lost gem. But for me Ford’s fuzz guitar arrangement of “Spoonful” is really stellar and the superb country soul ballads “Changing Colors” and “Love On My Brain” make the album what it is today – a unique record in the country-rock canon. Ford’s main strength was his songwriting ability but he’s also an underrated vocalist with real southern grit and soul. There is nothing like Harlan County, the LP is mandatory listening for fans of 60s American rock n roll and country-rock.-Jason,
http://therisingstorm.net/jim-ford-harlan-county/
Apples Dipped in Candy- Mickey Newbury
I remember seeing Mickey Newbury on the the CMT network many years ago when they were just starting out. Ralph Emery had a nightly show. One night he had a “guitar pull” with some prominent songwriters. Mickey Newbury blew them away. I recall someone (maybe Jerry reed) commenting, “Mickey could sing the phone book and make it sound good.” So true.
It’s a shame he didn?t have more tunes on the airwaves because he could really, really sing. A country jazz singer?
Along with fellow songwriters such as Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Tom T. Hall, Mickey Newbury helped revolutionize country music in the 1960s and ’70s by bringing new, broader musical influences as well as a frank, emotional depth to the music — while at the same time never losing respect for tradition. Newbury infused his country music with haunting beauty and spiritual melancholy, creating an impressive collection of introspective, emotionally complex songs that are more spiritual cousins of the work of Leonard Cohen than that of Roy Acuff.
n 1963, a friend of his landed him a writing job with Acuff-Rose, and Newbury moved to Nashville. During the next several years, he became friends with such singers as Roy Orbison, Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, and Townes Van Zandt. He was also instrumental in getting both Kristofferson and Van Zandt, among others, noticed in Nashville.
In 1966 Don Gibson had a Top Ten hit with Newbury’s “Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings,” and Newbury’s writing career was off and running. A long string of hit songs followed, recorded by such artists as Kenny Rogers & the First Edition (“Just Dropped In”), Eddy Arnold (“Here Comes the Rain, Baby”), and Andy Williams (“Sweet Memories”).
In 1972 Newbury had a Top 30 hit with “American Trilogy,” a suite-like arrangement of “Dixie,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “All My Trials.” The song later became a major hit for Elvis Presley and a standard in his repertoire.
Newbury recorded three albums for ABC/Hickory in the late ’70s and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1980, but he was more and more becoming something of a recluse. He had given up concert touring some years before and also had moved to Oregon. In the 1980s, he only released two albums. In 1994 he resurfaced with Nights When I Am Sane, an acoustic album recorded live with guitarist Jack Williams. Since he was out of the spotlight for more than a decade, though, he wasn’t well known in contemporary country circles. People familiar with his work, however, recognized Newbury as one of country music’s most inspired and moving artists. After fighting respiratory illness for several years, Newbury passed away in the fall of 2002 at age 62. -Kurt Wolff, AllMusic.com
Mickey Newbury’s songs have been covered by hundreds upon hundreds of artists; over 1,000 covers have been documented. Mickey also recorded 25 albums over 35 years. Though he considered himself a songwriter first and singer second, his own albums are critically acclaimed and highly desired by a very passionate fan base the world over.
Many consider him to be the best of the best. Kris Kristofferson says, “God, I learned more about songwriting from Mickey than I did any other single human being. To me he was a songbird. He comes out with amazing words and music… I’m sure that I never would have written Bobby McGee, Sunday Morning Coming Down… if I had never known Mickey. He was my hero and still is.”
Mickey’s love was the music, not the business. Among Mickey’s peers, he was always seen as a champion of the songwriter. Among his family members and associates, he was seen as a wonderful son, husband, father, and friend.
“It’s clear Mickey Newbury was a major player in a musical revolution of sorts that swept through Nashville during the 1960’s and 70’s… revitalizing country music with fresh ideas; acknowledging a broader range of influences… and ultimately winning the industry a much larger fan base in the process.”
— Kurt Wolff, No Depression, March/April 1997
“Mickey deliberately defies labels. He is neither country nor soul…behind the deceptive simplicity of some of his lyrics, there are levels of mental landscape that can take you in some strange directions, past the edges of understanding…” Kris Kristofferson
“…is one of America’s best composers, possessor of one of the few perfect voices in any form of music…” Larry Kelp of The Tribune, Oakland California
“…there is a unifying sense of tradition reflected in the humanity and craft of our finest American song-writers. Newbury is part of that rich, wide-ranging field of American writers, including Randy Newman and Tom Waits,…” Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times
Mickey Newbury’s albums “constitute one of the most remarkable catalogs of music any American artist has assembled in this century, a body of work for which he deserves to be remembered and revered.” Peter Blackstock, No Depression , March-April 1999
–http://www.mickeynewbury.com/bio.htm
Confessin? the Blues- Rolling Stones
After all these years, we forget how blues based the Stones were when they first started out. Some great old pics of the Stones on the Ed Sullivan show. Alright- let’s be honest! How many of us remember the Ed Sullivan show?
I am not a librarian of my own work. It’s a good thing not to be too involved with what you have done.
Mick JaggerI came into music just because I wanted the bread. It’s true. I looked around and this seemed like the only way I was going to get the kind of bread I wanted.
Mick JaggerI can’t get no satisfaction.
Mick JaggerI don’t really count myself as a very sophisticated businessperson. I’m a creative artist. All I know from business I’ve picked up along the way.
Mick JaggerI got nasty habits; I take tea at three.
Mick JaggerI have never wanted to give up performing on stage, but one day the tours will be over.
Mick JaggerI haven’t had the time to plan returning to the scene because I haven’t left it.
Mick JaggerI must be careful not to get trapped in the past. That’s why I tend to forget my songs.
Mick JaggerI never really studied business in school. I kind of wish I had, but how boring is that?
Mick Jagger
I’d rather be dead than singing “Satisfaction” when I’m forty-five.
Mick JaggerIt’s all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.
Mick JaggerLose your dreams and you might lose your mind.
Mick JaggerMy secrets must be poetic to be believable.
Mick JaggerPatriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.
Mick JaggerPeople have this obsession. They want you to be like you were in 1969. They want you to, because otherwise their youth goes with you. It’s very selfish, but it’s understandable.
Mick JaggerPeople love talking about when they were young and heard Honky Tonk Women for the first time. It’s quite a heavy load to carry on your shoulders, the memories of so many people.
Mick JaggerPeople think they know you. They know the things about you that you have forgotten.
Mick JaggerThank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos.
Mick JaggerThe elusive nature of love… it can be such a fleeting thing. You see it there and it’s just fluttering and it’s gone.
Mick JaggerThe new fashion is to talk about the most private parts of your life; other fashion is to repent of your excesses and to criticize the drugs that made you happy in the other times.
Mick JaggerThe past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.
Mick JaggerYou wake up in the morning and you look at your old spoon, and you say to yourself, ‘Mick, it’s time to get yourself a new spoon.’ And you do.
Mick Jagger
Confess- Nat King Cole
The cool thing about putting this blog together and that I learn a whole lot in the process. I wasn’t aware of the controversies that seemed to follow Nat King Cole throughout his career. Read on.
For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late ’40s to the mid-’60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films. But unlike them, he had not emerged from a background as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, leading his own small group. Oddly, that was one source of controversy. For some reason, there seem to be more jazz critics than fans of traditional pop among music journalists, and Cole’s transition from jazz to pop during a period when jazz itself was becoming less popular was seen by them as a betrayal. At the same time, as a prominent African-American entertainer during an era of tumultuous change in social relations among the races in the U.S., he sometimes found himself out of favor with different warring sides. His efforts at integration, which included suing hotels that refused to admit him and moving into a previously all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles, earned the enmity of racists; once, he was even physically attacked on-stage in Alabama. But civil rights activists sometimes criticized him for not doing enough for the cause.
Such controversies do not obscure his real talent as a performer, however. -William Ruhlmann, AllMusic.com
His first performance, at age four, was of “Yes! We Have No Bananas”.
Cole acquired his nickname “King” performing at one jazz club, a nickname presumably reinforced by the otherwise unrelated nursery rhyme about Old King Cole.
Cole’s first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, “Straighten Up and Fly Right”, based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon.
Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
The last episode of “The Nat King Cole Show” aired December 17, 1957.
Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had. Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose.
Cole performed in many short films, sitcoms, and television shows and played W. C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues (1958). He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia (1953). Cat Ballou (1965), his final film, was released several months after his death.
Cole was among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961.
Cole had one of his last big hits in 1963, two years before his death, with the classic “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer”, which reached #6 on the Pop chart.
Cole was inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1997 was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hit
Parade Hall of Fame.In 2000, Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the major influences for early Rock and Roll.
An official United States postage stamp featuring Cole?s likeness was issued in 1994.-http://natkingcole.com/page_id=8
Critics don’t buy records. They get ’em free.
Nat King ColeFor years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death.
Nat King ColeGet me well so I can get on television and tell people to stop smoking.
Nat King ColeI am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.
Nat King ColeI am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.
Nat King ColeI can’t bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can’t stand the sight of myself.
Nat King ColeI make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value.
Nat King ColeI may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.
Nat King ColeI was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South.
Nat King ColeI’m a musician at heart, I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.
Nat King ColeI’m an interpreter of stories. When I perform it’s like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories.
Nat King ColeI’m in the music business for one purpose – to make money.
Nat King ColeI’m not playing for other musicians. We’re trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We’ll keep him happy.
Nat King ColeIf I could read it, I could play it.
Nat King ColeIt’s not the people in the South who create racial problems – it’s the people who are governing.
Nat King ColeMusic is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping.
Nat King ColeOnly time, education and plenty of good schooling will make anti-segregation work.
Nat King ColePeople don’t slip. Time catches up with them.
Nat King ColePrimarily I’m a meat man, although once in a while I toy with a few vegetables.
Nat King ColeThe only prejudice I’ve found anywhere in TV is in some advertising agencies, and there isn’t so much prejudice as just fear.
Nat King ColeThe only sport I’m not interested in is horse racing. That’s because I don’t know the horses personally.
Nat King ColeThe people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.
Nat King ColeThe sheriff is at the cash register, and if I don’t get a hit soon, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Nat King ColeThe Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences?
Nat King ColeThere’s just one thing I can’t figure out. My income tax!
Nat King ColeYou’ve got to change with the public’s taste.
Nat King Cole
My Confession- Curtis Potter, Tony Booth and Darrell McCall
The name of their album pretty much sums it up- all three of these fine gentlemen are true survivors of the country music industry.
Want some good old fashioned, true-blue country music with great vocals and up-front fiddle and steel guitars? These guys have survived and know how to deliver the country goods!
Curtis Potter was born in Cross Plains, Texas, but was raised in Abilene. He worked on KRBC-TV and the Bill Fox Show in the mid-’50s. He was also a bandleader for Hank Thompson from 1959-1971.
-All Music GuideCurtis Potter has become a legend in Country Music focusing his career on the great Texas Dance Hall music featuring Honky Tonk standards and Western Swing favorites.-http://www.curtispottercountry.com/Biography.html
Booth’s career really took off in 1972 when he scored three Top 20 hits, including “The Key’s in the Mailbox.” The next year he had five more hits, including a cover of the Doris Day hit “Secret Love” and “When a Man Loves a Woman (The Way I Love You).”
During the 1990s, Booth played with Gene Watson’s band. -Sandra Brennan, AllMusic.com
At age 14 won a national singing contest
The Tony Booth Band was the house band at the Famed Palomino Club in Los Angeles
Academy of Country Music’s Most Promising Male Artsist of 1971
Nominee for Male Vocalist of The Year, 1973, by the Academy Of Country Music, along with Conway Twitty, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, and Charley Rich
Tony Booth Band won Band of the year 1970, 1971, and 1972 from the Academy of Country Music
2009 Male Vocalist of the Year from the Will Rogers Academy of Western Artists-http://tonybooth.homestead.com/tonysbio.html
Though his initial singles were pop, Darrell McCall was a hardcore country vocalist to the core, singing tough honky tonk during the majority of his career without caring for trends and fashions. -Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic.com
Darrell McCall actually began his recording career as a member of the Little Dippers in 1960. Darrell broke away from the group the following year, and by 1963 his sound had evolved into pure country. He sang both traditional country and honky tonk during the ’60s, but eventually became devoted to the dance hall country that has remained popular for decades.
I?m Confession? (That I Love You)- Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang
This is such a nice combination. Some times less really is more. With K.D.’s vocal chops, she could have wailed on this, especially at the end but instead chose wisely to take a more restrained, controlled approach. Works beautifully!
Cool pic of K.D. Lang in her early cowpunk days.
This is a musical love affair in all its splendor. Produced by the seemingly chameleonic producer T-Bone Burnett (who previously revived traditional bluegrass with spectacular success on O Brother, Where Art Thou?), the septuagenarian legend and his unlikely contemporary foil affectionately court a dozen songs from the Louis Armstrong repertoire with the warmth and natural grace that have been a deceptively effortless Bennett trademark for 50-plus years.
…the pair tap into something akin to timeless musical telepathy. Her own talents hardly in need of burnishing, lang invests the project with some gratifying new smokiness and is rewarded with a postgraduate course in saloon singing for the ages. It’s an album that begs the best kind of question: When do we get an encore? –Jerry McCulley, http://www.amazon.ca/Wonderful-World-Tony-Bennett/
Time to Confess- Gov’t Mule
Known as one of the hardest working bands in the business. Warren Haynes was in the Allman Brothers Band and was voted the 23rd greatest guitarist of all time, according to Rolling Stone.
Who would have thought Gov’t Mule would be in the same set as Nat King Cole ,Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang? Well, it works for us at ptsroadhouse!
With 2 million paid song downloads through their site MuleTracks, seven critically acclaimed studio records already released, a handful of DVDs and live albums, plus an ever-expanding fanbase and sold-out coast-to-coast tours, Gov’t Mule could easily rest on its laurels.
Yet when you’re in one of the hardest working bands in rock history, pushing yourself to greater heights always supersedes cashing in on past successes. –
Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Haynes remembers getting his first taste of musical nourishment at the tender age of six when he heard black gospel on the radio. He was raised by a father who loved Merle Haggard and Bill Monroe, but he was coached by two older brothers partial to Miles and Coltrane, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, Dylan and Van Morrison. At first he was most interested in vocalists like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, zeroing in on even B.B. King’s voice, not just his licks.
By the time he was 20, Haynes had a solid performance background and his guitar playing was starting to turn heads. He had gained the attention of country singer/songwriter David Allan Coe, who brought Haynes into his fold. In all, Haynes appeared on nine of Coe’s albums and he toured with Coe throughout America and Europe for four years. When Coe’s band opened for The Allman Brothers Band at Atlanta’s Fox Theater in 1981, Dickey Betts joined them for a few songs. It was a chance meeting that ultimately changed Haynes life.
A few years later in 1986, Betts and Haynes met again in Nashville. Betts was looking for backing vocalists for an ultimately unreleased album. In 1987, Betts called on Haynes to form a band. When Betts began work on PATTERN DISRUPTIVE in 1988, Haynes co-wrote the songs.
Haynes became a full-fledged Brother in 1989 when ABB embarked on the Reunion Tour. He has since been key in the production of four studio albums, three live albums and two DVDs — co-writing all of the original songs for HITTIN’ THE NOTE. With producer Michael Barbiero, he produced and mixed HITTIN’ THE NOTE, the ONE WAY OUT double live CD and the LIVE AT THE BEACON THEATRE DVD. And, as a member of the Allmans, he has, to date, earned five Grammy nominations with a Best Rock Instrumental win for “Jessica” in 1995 off 2ND SET.
Haynes recently completed the Allman Brothers’ annual nine-night run at New York’s Beacon Theatre. Warren will tour as a member of The Dead this summer, and will open approximately half of the shows with a solo acoustic set, requiring some careful scheduling with an Allman tour also in the picture.
“Singing and songwriting and guitar playing are all equal in my mind,” he says. “Basically I’m thankful that I have all three in my life. –http://www.mule.net/the_band/warren.html
Confessions- Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez
This is a beautiful way to wrap up our Confessin’ set. Two voices that just plain work well together!
Did you know Chip Taylor wrote “Wild Thing”- a hit for the Troggs, “Angel of the Morning” made famous by Merilee Rush and later for Juice Newton. He also co-wrote “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” – a smash for Janis Joplin. Not bad!
And he’s also Jon Voight’s younger brother.
A stellar sleeper. It’s one of those records that is deceptive by virtue of its unassuming quality. Over three or four listens (where I kept getting distracted by life after a handful of tunes) I went from thinking that this is pretty cool to no, this is good, to wait a minute, this is great. Really great.
–http://www.puremusic.com/chipcarrie.html
When Chip first saw Carrie play at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin Texas in 2001, he was not only wowed by the brilliance he heard in her playing, but also sensed a magical presence.
He invited her to join him on some subsequent shows in Texas and then a tour of Europe… and the rest is history.-http://www.trainwreckrecords.com/artists/chip_taylor_and_carrie_rodriguez.html
Change- Sam Baker
O.K- I admit it- Sam Baker is absolutely one of my favorites. He has an amazing story- turning adversity into a beautiful end result.
I recently heard about somebody who was riding on a train in Peru when it exploded, the result of a bomb planted by radicals in the Shining Path movement. Many people died and this guy nearly did, too. Remarkably, he’s gotten on with his life. Think about that kind of determination and courage the next time you find yourself whining about something that really isn’t worth whining about.
Anyway, Sam Baker is a singer-songwriter of the Austin variety. The title of his debut album, Mercy, is just one word and so are each of his song titles. Baker — who’s also penned short stories — chooses his words very carefully. The album was so highly recommended that I didn’t even listen to it right way; I just read the lyrics. Baker is a vivid storyteller both in terms of what he chooses to write about and the brevity with which he brings his stories to life…When I finally played Baker’s album, its power made me stop whatever else I was doing. With a country twang and folksy, folk persona, it took a bead on my emotions and hit a bull’s-eye. At times, Baker’s voice seems more ragged than you’d expect from his picture on the cover the CD booklet. Baker’s lyrics sometimes are run roughshod by his vocals. I also noticed a photo of him playing guitar left-handed, which certainly is a novelty. Those quirks notwithstanding, this is a record with a wounded beauty and an aching spirit. And I absolutely love it…”Change” has a funky front porch shine to it as he describes another (or perhaps the same) town’s main street. And those boys were still on Baker’s mind: “Those same little girls/Went to work in those stores/Those same little boys went away to wars/But when they came home/All the jobs had gone away/Back to those places where they fought so far away.” It’s like watching Norman Rockwell’s America being outsourced. The songs on Mercy hold on to those lost dreams and Baker’s torn between moving on and squeezing so tight that maybe they’ll come back. He gets terrific support throughout with a trio of winning female back-up singers: Britt Savage (who I reviewed on a strong album by Randy Wayne Sitzler,) Joy Lynn White (another favorite of mine) and Jessi Colter (an outlaw country legend and the longtime wife of the much-missed Waylon Jennings.)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention track 10 on Baker’s album. “Steel” depicts a guy riding on a train in Machu Pichu that blows up.
You see, that person I mentioned earlier was none other than Baker himself. He’s had many surgeries since then. The reason some of Baker’s vocals are raspy is because that blast affected his hearing, He plays guitar left-handed because of other injuries he sustained.
A near-death event like this is clearly life-altering. It explains why Baker’s songs have such depth and resonance…This is big, poetic stuff but Baker serves it up not on a gold platter but more like a cafeteria tray, which everyone can relate to.
I don’t think it’s premature to think of Baker as being part of the hallowed singer-songwriter tradition blazed by the likes of Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark and John Prine. It’s like there was a storm, a couple of huge oaks fell down at your local park and you suddenly saw another big tree behind them in full bloom. In a music world riddled with deadwood, Sam Baker is a redwood.
-Tony Peyser
Baker was seriously injured in a train
attacked by Peruvian guerrillas in 1986,
and in the years following he worked on
recovery both physical and spiritual. He
refined his storytelling, learned to play
guitar with his left hand, and, through
vocals irreparably altered by the bombing,
began to share his wonder at the beautiful
complexity of life. His songs are
meticulously crafted and almost Cormac
McCarthy-ian in their restraint. There are
no wasted syllables; there is no wall of
sound. Instead, we simply hear a man with
an acoustic guitar and a scraggly voice,
backed by occasional guitars, strings, and
drums. The music is absorbing, the lyrics
moving. Forget concentrating on anything
else while the album plays. Pretty World
has dominated my listening for nearly two
months now, each session embedding it a
little deeper into my soul. Let it into yours too.– Patrick Nichols, ThisIsTexasMusic.com
Lorraine- Lori McKenna
Wow- this may very well be a landmark album for Lori McKenna. Personal and moving.
Lori McKenna’s first name is actually Lorraine. Now you know. She is named after the mother she lost when she was only seven, but whose impact on Lori’s life reverberates to this day. In her sixth album, Lorraine, she considers the influence of her mother, who died at roughly the same age Lori is now, as well as her own place in relationship to her husband, family and community. It is her most personal album to date.
She began performing her songs in public at age 27, after she and her husband Gene already had three children. She and Gene continue to maintain a happy home in Stoughton, Massachusetts, adding two more children to their full lives. In addition to family, place has an important role in Lori’s songs.
She eventually became a staple of the Boston folk music scene, where she became friendly with Mary Gauthier. “We were the two old ladies in a sea of young faces,” she jokes. When Gauthier picked up and left for Nashville, she brought Lori’s music to the attention of her publisher. They got her music into the hands of Faith Hill, who fell hard for Lori’s songs. Hill recorded three of them for her album Fireflies. Lori’s way of articulating the love, pain and pathos of domestic life had a huge impact on Hill, and Hill’s very public championing of Lori’s music led other artists to Lori’s songs. Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Alison Krauss, Keith Urban and LeAnn Rimes are among the many that have recorded her songs in recent years. –http://lorimckenna.com/bio
McKenna’s uncompromisingly personal songs are a textbook example of music that artists love but that the masses fail to embrace. Her latest album, Lorraine, again features songs that disregard key rules of commercial songwriting, refusing to tie up all the loose ends in a happy, snappy chorus. In fact, it’s her eye for those frayed bits of real life that make her songs fascinating, if sometimes challenging to relate to.
Quietly and artfully, if not especially dynamically, McKenna unearths striking truths about the fragility of life and relationships. While embracing such core country-music values as the simple beauty of family and domestic life, McKenna’s complex spin on them sets her apart from the hitmaking pack- good news for those who don’t like too much whitewash applied to their reality. -Steve Morley, http://www.countryweekly.com/lori_mckenna_lorraine/reviews/926
Sober Harley Guys- Erica Wheeler
If you’ve been hanging around coffeehouses like me, you gotta see the truth in this tune!
Erica was kind enough to respond to my e-mail and stated that she hoped this tune would make folks look forward to spring and gettin’ on their bikes!
Erica originally attended college to become a wildlife field biologist. She went on to become an award-winning singer/songwriter whose songs are deeply rooted in the land and a sense of place. After years of touring and witnessing the rapid change and growth that forever altered some of her favorite places, she decided to bring her work full circle.
Drawing on her experience in the performing arts and her life long passion for natural history, cultural history and conservation issues, she created her Soulful Landscape programs to mend the disconnect between people and place. Her work helps to and foster the sense of engagement needed to care for our treasured places.
Her most recent CD Good Summer Rain was sponsored in part by the Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization and won first place for Best Interpretive Music at 2008 National Association for Interpretation Media Awards.
With six critically acclaimed recordings to her credit, Erica has headlined clubs from Boston to Berkeley and shared the stage with Greg Brown, Shawn Colvin, Indigo Girls and others. Her songs have charted in the top ten on Billboard?s Gavin Americana Chart, and she has been interviewed on Voice of America, NPR?s All Things Considered and other syndicated radio programs.
Known for her visual, ‘cinematographic’ style of songwriting, Erica Wheeler takes listeners on a journey though the American landscape and the lives lived there with poetic beauty and grace. Her music is pure Americana, falling into the categories of folk, country and bluegrass. On stage, armed with an acoustic guitar and her richly expressive voice, Erica is also known for her engaging warmth, colorful stories and hilarious stage patter.
“Wheeler is the perfect kind of singer/songwriter: she writes songs filled with detail and revelation, and she sings them with a voice that is versatile and moving.” Whazup.com
Edge of Goodbye- Steel Magnolia
Well, I know this is getting close to getting into the “hot new country” category- but hot damn- both these kids can sing, can’t they?
Steel Magnolia. It’s a name that implies gentle beauty buoyed by an underlying strength and force of will. It’s a perfect moniker for Country Music’s hottest new duo as soulful, blonde, vivacious Meghan Linsey and her electrifying partner Joshua Scott Jones exemplify the combination of talent and tenacity it takes to succeed.
Seasoned voices, dogged perseverance and a healthy dose of Southern charm proved to be a winning combination for Steel Magnolia in winning CMT’s Can You Duet? (produced by the creators of American Idol). Meghan and Josh, partners both on and off stage, captivated the judges with their unique vocal blend and charismatic stage presence. In reaping their prize, the duo signed a record deal with Big Machine Records (label home to Taylor Swift), and entered the studio with acclaimed producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts) to begin working on their debut disc.
“Our voices blend uniquely,” Josh adds. “Meghan has more of a low end and my voice is kind of in a little higher register, which normally isn’t the case with a male/female duo. It’s usually the other way around. So it’s a weird blend, but it works.”
“It’s country with our own edge,” Josh says of the Steel Magnolia sound. “We’ve been at it a long time. We are just real people and that’s what country music is all about. We’re just happy to be here.” –http://www.steelmagnoliamusic.com/about.html
Country sensation Steel Magnolia’s self-titled debut album claimed the #1 spot on the iTunes Country Albums Chart only 12 hours after its release on Tuesday. The long-anticipated album remained in the #1 position today – three days after its release.-http://www.openroadrecordings.com
“If you’ve ever wished Lady Antebellum?s Charles and Hillary had Tim and Faith chemistry – or that Tanya Tucker would duet with someone who channels Bruce Springsteen and Christopher Cross – then meet Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones!” -ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“A true duo, Joshua Scott Jones’ rugged rock voice blends and contrasts at the right moments with Meghan Linsey’s fluid soul singing.” – COUNTRY WEEKLY
The Highway Man- Rob Ryan
Rockabilly via Germany! Another tune to give you springtime ramblin’ fever!
For the past 20 years, in Nashville and around the world, Rob has been performing live straight forward country music forged with honky-tonk, western swing, bluegrass and rockabilly.
Rob’s first European record “Highway Man” (Rhythm Bomb records) is an in-your-face, gutsy, melodic, danceable, drinkable compilation of soaring rhythm and pure honky tonk energy. “A must have for any old school country, honky tonk and rockabilly fan!” (CD Baby. 2009).
Every so often an artist appears who radiates a timeless quality and inexhaustable energy that reminds us of what listening to music is all about. For years now, Rob Ryan has exhilarated audiences with his brand of up-tempo, hard driving honky-tonk, leaving his fans electrified and making converts of anyone within earshot.
Rob Ryan’s original hard country songs contain the down-to-earth truthfulness and skillfully crafted hooks that leave a tune branded in our minds (“straight ahead infectious country” College Music Journal). His resonant baritone voice can stretch from a yodel to a growl and has a dynamic timbre reminiscent of the great country voices who have preceeded him (“After hearing him sing, I knew he was a dedicated follower of root American forms” NY Daily News).-http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7910746
Hummingbyrd- Marty Stuart
Was great to see this country music veteran win a Grammy for this tune last week! Very well-deserved!
Marty Stuart’s musical tribute to the Byrds’ guitarist Clarence White, titled “Hummingbyrd,” won Stuart his fifth Grammy on Sunday (Feb. 13) in Los Angeles. White was killed in 1973 after being hit by a drunk driver while he was loading equipment into a car following a reunion gig with one of his earlier bands, the Kentucky Colonels. After gaining prominence in bluegrass circles for his acoustic style, White gained national attention in the Byrds for his distinctive electric guitar style using a B-bender, a device that changes the pitch of the instrument’s B string. Stuart’s tribute resulted in his third career win in the best country instrumental performance category. The song comes from his latest album, Ghost Train (The Studio B Sessions). “It really means the world to me to be recognized by my peers for this piece,” said Stuart. “My main electric guitar belonged to Clarence White, the great guitarist for the Byrds. After Clarence’s death, I bought this guitar from his wife. I’ve played it on a lot of hits and on a lot of records, but I’ve never felt like — to the Clarence White fans who watch me or who actually watch the guitar — I’ve laid down a profound instrumental that pays homage to Clarence. I wrote this song and gave it a title that pays tribute to Clarence. I consider it my B-bender recital piece.” http://www.cmt.com/news/
