From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V4 #17 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Monday, January 14 2002 Volume 04 : Number 017 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] New list at smoe.org [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Re: Poor little wayfaring newbie [LBECKLAW@aol.com] [RS] wayfaring strangers [Lorrie Clark ] [RS] Do re mi . . . it could be that easy [Katie Mahoney Subject: MM: NPC: Announcing a new list for music from the 50s, 60s & 70s! Hi folks :-) My name is Mike, and I own/run a number of lists here at smoe.org, most notedly the Jewel, Patty Griffin & Tiny Tim lists. A few of us had tossed this idea around for over a year, and I finally decided to make it happen.....a list devoted to the discussion of the many evolving genres of music from the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s. (yeah...I know...I guess this has to include disco too......oh well....so much for a "perfect list") I know there's a rather decent number of "baby boomers" on many smoe lists, so to them this will be a welcome addition. For others who did not grow up during the 50s, 60s or 70s, this list could be a very good learning tool that can turn you on to some of the best and most influential music of those eras, which is also some of the best and most infuential of all time. So, if you want to learn, or want to discuss any music genre or artist/group from those decades, please join us. As far as I am concerned, you can discuss ANY music from those eras: pop/top 40, rock & roll, folk, new age, jazz, broadway musicals, R&B...you name it...and yes....... I guess disco too. This list, like most others on smoe.org comes in loose mail and digest formats and you are welcome to join to either one or both. So, to join up on the loose-mail version of this list, send an email with the following two-line command s*bscribe 50s60s70s end in the body of an email to majordomo@smoe.org To join the digest version of the list, send the two-line command s*bscribe 50s60s70s-digest end in the body of an email to majordomo@smoe.org ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 09:07:09 EST From: LBECKLAW@aol.com Subject: [RS] Re: Poor little wayfaring newbie Tom, Thanks for explaining the Wayfaring Stranger background to me. And bravo for being the first lister to respond. Sometimes I feel like I need a bi-lingual dictionary to understand you more evolved listers. Thanks, Laura ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 10:35:00 -0500 From: Lorrie Clark Subject: [RS] wayfaring strangers Hi Laura: If you're asking about Wayfaring Strangers the group and their self-titled debut release (as opposed to the song, which they also cover), I'm sending a review that appeared in a Boston paper. I can tell you that WS is a collaboration of some of the best musicians imaginable (including, by the way, Lucy K). Matt Glaser, Andy Statman, Jennifer Kimball, Tim O'Brien -- this is a collection of unrivaled musicians, and they combine musical influences in a way that is new while being deeply respectful of each. Sorry. I'll stop gushing. Lorrie Wayfaring Strangers take long, strange trip Folk/Blues/by Daniel Gewertz Friday, November 30, 2001 The Wayfaring Strangers' debut album may have been years in the making, yet there's a single moment that will define it. In ``Man of Constant Sorrow,'' the instant Ralph Stanley's harsh, harrowing vocal ends and Lazlo Gardony's modal jazz piano takes over, the Strangers' fusion experiment reaches its zenith. ``Shifting Sands of Time'' (Rounder) is not only a beautiful, luminous work, it's also a fresh take on how to fuse disparate styles of essential American music. Appalachian string-band, modern jazz, bluegrass, klezmer and gospel aren't just juxtaposed, they are mixed together in a way that suggests a new roots-music vision. The Wayfaring Strangers, who play a CD-release gig at Johnny D's on Wednesday, soulfully merge Kentucky and New York, rural and urban. In the words of the band's leader, fiddler Matt Glaser, it combines ``the high and lonesome sound of Bill Monroe and the low and lonesome sound of Billie Holiday.'' Yet however audacious the Strangers' album appears, Glaser contends his primary interest lies neither in newness nor fusion. ``If I have a mission, it's not about merging idioms, it's about making a spiritual music that may be hard to categorize, but a music that draws from the deepest wellsprings of song. So the three components are jazz, Appalachian music and a depth of spirit.'' Glaser is after ``the quality of mystery that is so lacking in contemporary music.'' Although he is the creator of a new wrinkle in the American cultural fabric, the folk/jazz violinist quotes Paul Hindemith's statement that ``Nothing is more tiresome than the continual desire to be new.'' ``There's nothing new about Ralph Stanley, yet his singing is the single indispensable element of American music right now, because it channels the deepest traditions,'' Glaser said. ``The best things are often the oldest and the most transcendent.'' Stanley, the legendary bluegrass patriarch, is but one of a rich, diverse group of guest vocalists, including contemporary folkies Lucy Kaplansky and Ry Cavanaugh, rocker Tracy Bonham, Celtic vocalist Cathie Ryan and bluegrass singers Tim O'Brien, Rhonda Vincent and Laurie Lewis. The band's regular vocalist is Jennifer Kimball, whose angular, searching approach gives a modern, nearly eerie quality to both traditional song. She also aces the CD's oddest creation, an arty yet earthy bluegrass-swing interpretation of Emily Dickinson poetry, ``Funeral in My Brain.'' When Kimball harmonizes with Kaplansky, this often probative project achieves an easy soul. The band is sparked by two esteemed bluegrass innovators, banjoist Tony Trischka and mandolinist Andy Statman. After his years with bluegrass, Statman became known as the premier clarinetist of the klezmer revival. With the Strangers, he uses his clarinet to deepen and burnish the sound, at times exploring something close to Jewish mystic bluegrass. Trischka and Statman's participation in the project will always be sporadic, so the Strangers will remain a part-time band. At Johnny D's, regular Strangers Glaser, Statman, Trischka, Kimball, guitarist John McGann and bassist Jim Whitney and guest percussionist Jamey Haddad will all be on tap, though regular pianist Bruce Barth will not. Glaser may be phasing out the band's jazz piano element. So will the Strangers, who've collected ecstatic reviews from both folk and jazz writers, be less of a groundbreaking jazz-grass fusion in the future? ``I wanted the first album to make a statement, to pursue a sense of audacity; to try to smash the atom,'' Glaser said. ``Now I just want to make the best, deepest music we can make.'' ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 11:22:58 -0500 From: Katie Mahoney Subject: [RS] Do re mi . . . it could be that easy Okay, so I got my copy of Courier the day before yesterday. Oh man. What a FANTASTIC album. I dare *anyone* to listen to track #7 without falling head-over-heels in love with Richard, regardless of how they felt about him before. I dare them. I love all the arrangements of the songs . . . I even kind of like "Memory of You," which I've never liked, not even a little. I love "Fishing," I love "Summer Wind," I love "Sandy" . . . oh heck, I love them all. The latest one I've been listening to on repeat is "Fleur de Lis," which isn't terribly different from the album version, but somehow manages to be ten times more beautiful. Wow. Soooooo good. The Sonora Sessions is terrific too. This was my first time hearing "Sonora," and from everything everyone had said about it, I expected it to be much more "Shades of Black Shades of Blue" or "Wisteria"-like . . . sort of sad and melodic and whatnot. So I was very surprised to hear the almost "Arrowhead"-esque opening chords. I listened to it once through, and thought it was nice, but nothing really special. Then I listened to it again, and thought it was actually very pretty. Then I listened to it again, and couldn't get it out of my head. Then I listened to it again, and started needing to listen to it again. And again. Um, that little sucker really grows on you, don't it? I always picture Robert Redford and Paul Newman starring in it, a la Butch Cassidy. The other songs on the EP are wonderful as well . . . this is definitely the version of "Wisteria" I'm giving people on mix tapes from now on. So yeah. I kind of like Courier. Just a little. As for Jeffrey Foucault, I haven't yet put in my two cents yet, but I feel I owe it to Kerry, so I'll give it a shot :-) I will add a wholehearted AMEN to those who have put "Dove and the Waterline" on their list of best songs . . . as someone who has listened to it on repeat, oh, about four thousand six hundred and fifty three times since I got the album this fall, I feel I have sort of an authoritative opinion on the subject. This boy is amazing. And I'm usually really picky about debut albums . . . I love Lori McKenna and Kris Delmhorst and all the other folks who are oft-mentioned on this list, but in my opinion, Miles From the Lightening could kick the butts of of all their debut albums with one leg tied behind its back (er, metaphorically speaking, of course). Alright, enough out of me. Belated happy 2002 to everyone, as I haven't posted since New Year's. Ciao! Katie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V4 #17 **********************************