From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V9 #78 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 Saturday, May 5 2007 Volume 09 : Number 078 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Re: a little bit country [Phueber@aol.com] Re: [RS] Re: a little bit country ["kunigunda" ] [RS] Slow traffic [John McDonnell & Jamie Younghans ] [RS] country feel [] Re: [RS] Slow traffic ["Tom Neff" ] [RS] Go postal! ["John McDonnell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 08:24:09 EDT From: Phueber@aol.com Subject: [RS] Re: a little bit country RG, How about some Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Buddy and Julie Miller or Emmylou to ease her into the transition? I think some of their songs might be a bridge between country and folk. Maybe "Goodbye" or "The Mountain" from Steve. And "One More Dollar" from Gillian. Lots of possibilities from Buddy and Julie, as well as Emmylou. How about "So Says The Whip-poor-will" from RS? And here's another vote for some Jeffrey Foucault, maybe "Miles From The Lightning." Your Toby Keith comment cracked me up. Almost vaporized a mouthful of Rice Krispies all over the computer screen when I read that. Paul ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 10:19:58 -0500 From: "kunigunda" Subject: Re: [RS] Re: a little bit country Ditto to those suggestions below, esp the Buddy and Julie Miller cds. There are alot of choices there. Another thought would be Kasey Chambers who sounds alot like Lori and Julie. If she likes the dixie chicks then these singers would be right up her alley since Natalie sounds like all three. I like the Wayward Angel cd and from that- Bluebird, More than Ordinary, Wayward Angel, Like a River, Follow you Home, Saturated, have a country sound. How about Mark and Emmylou?: All the Road Running, This is Us, Red Staggerwing. One of the songwriters in my transition from pop country to folk is Matraca Berg's cd Lyin to the Moon . She recently re-released it, and I think re-recorded it with a few extras. I like the old one better. She writes for others now. Anyway, she's not really folk but she's out there somewhere. Country sound - Back in the Saddle, Along for the Ride, Eat at Joes. carrie in kc > How about some Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Buddy and Julie Miller or > Emmylou > to ease her into the transition? I think some of their songs might be a > bridge between country and folk. Maybe "Goodbye" or "The Mountain" from > Steve. > And "One More Dollar" from Gillian. Lots of possibilities from Buddy and > Julie, as well as Emmylou. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 12:02:51 -0400 From: John McDonnell & Jamie Younghans Subject: [RS] Slow traffic Hey All, RG wrote: >> [I]want to put together a CD of "country-ish" -- either in lyrics or arrangement -- songs by folkies that would let me introduce her to artists like Richard, Dar, Lucy, Dave/Tracy, Kris, etc.<< I can't help on those other artists, but my RS "transitional" nominees are Arrowhead Kenworth Willin' Beyond the Iron Gate The Weather TV Light Waiting for the Storm I'll Be Here in the Morning/Sing Me Back Home Storms Are on the Ocean Sort of obvious, but I was surprised I picked so many, because I'm not a country music fan at all. RG also wrote: >> What I'm surprised about is the slow traffic on this list, particularly now that there's a new record to discuss.<< I know that I have not been able to post as much as I'd like because of work, but I also thought the reaction to SOD was somewhat tepid, with a notable exception. Perhaps it's because it's a disc of covers, and this list tends to very detail-oriented, by which I mean that no one here just says "Richard Shindell is the greatest songwriter today" etc. without really bringing a wealth of knowledge which allows for an analysis of his music and lyrics. That SOD is not his words or music inhibits that kind of analysis. If it were possible to be unfamiliar with all of the originals on SOD, or even excepting BITUSA, would SOD really be any different from a Shindell record? I'm not sure there are any precise or clear parallels between the songs on SOD and RS' work, but there are some thematic similarities, which may be common folk music themes, I don't know. From the liner notes, the whole record (SOD), to me fleshes out the theme of "The Courier'--these guardians of the word, these storytellers relating their experiences and telling tales of powerlessness and impoverishment--strings pulled by the sure hand. That sure hand animates what was still--makes the Word flesh, as it were. It's somewhat messianic, but there's also a sense of sacrifice, and a sense of being part of something more powerful and beyond one's control. That's how I see The Humpback Whale and the Texas Rangers, for just two examples (for me it permeates the whole record). Liberal (not a bad word) sentiment sides with the Indians, and feels for the whales, but I see each side as inexorably linked and destined to destroy each other for survival, or for the purposes of another. The sixteen-year-old narrator of the Texas Rangers is as much a victim as a part of westward expansionism (reminds me of the narrator of Arrowhead), just as the whalers are at the whim of an economic structure beyond their control--at any moment, despite feeding the factory twenty four hours a day, the season can come to an end. Sittin on Top of the World--on SOD reminds me of Money for Floods. No surprise there, except that no other version of SOTOTW is quite like the one on SOD. I found the reworking nothing short of genius--a timely interpretation that really emphasizes the irony of that phrase. "Born in the USA" has parallels to "The Things that I Have Seen," and "Deportee" reminds me of, and was apparently the inspiration for "Fishing," though I also think of Che Guevara T-shirt, and economic refugees. This may be just me (shocking, I know), but "Senor" reminds me of "On a Sea of Fleur-de-Lis" in a general sense--the questioning supplicant, the inscrutable object of their pleas, very Donne-like (is this also true for "Solo le Pido a Dios"--I only ask of God?) Although I know others wouldn't reach for SOD to hear some RS, I find the whole record has a very distinct RS feel, lyrically and musically--songs rooted in historical events (Acadian Driftwood, Deportee), songs of love and loss (Northbound 35, SOTOTW), toiling in despair (Lawrence KS), and traditional ballads to me are all firmly within the RS oeuvre, and, unlike some of his other studio albums, I don't feel the extra instrumentation in these songs covers or otherwise blurs his virtuosity, and his voice sounds great, especially on The Humpback Whale. So, what's not to like? John McD. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 11:57:11 -0400 From: Jean Rossner Subject: Re: [RS] Re: a little bit country I don't recall seeing Eliza Gilkyson mentioned yet in this thread, and she ought to be. Mary Gauthier is also wonderful, though perhaps a bit too downbeat for the sort of pop-country we may be talking about. Some other suggestions, on the folkier side: James Keelaghan (he wrote a LOT of great stuff besides "Cold Missouri Waters"; if I were making a "country-ish" mix I'd probably include "Hope Princeton Road") Lynn Miles (esp. the CD "Slightly Haunted", and I'd recommend either "I Always Told You the Truth" or "The Ghost of Deadlock") Maura O'Connell Mark Erelli's already been mentioned, right? Susan Werner's new one, "The Gospel Truth." And Dave Carter, always. :) Besides "Hey Conductor," what about "Highway 80" Or (for a very country sound, though the lyrics aren't), "Happytown"? Jean - -- Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge With-inne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so. - Chaucer, "Troilus and Criseyde" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 14:21:48 -0400 From: Subject: [RS] country feel > Ron, we're here to help. First, let me elbow in before Jim Colbert to bring > up Red Molly, who may actually be country enough for your friend, but carry > the folk banner nonetheless. > Well as long it's me or Gene that mentions them first, I'm fine. That's just keeping it in the family. And speaking of keeping it in the family - Abbie Gardner's solo CD honey on my grave. The dobro, just like in RM, can really add a country flavor to things at times. I'm just on my way out the door to help out with a workshop, but I'll get some more later. Incidentally, I had the early Folk Show on WPSU this morning and used Lawrence Kansas from SOD and the Carter Family doing Storms are on the Ocean. - -Jim, somewhere near exhausted ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 23:03:59 -0400 From: "Tom Neff" Subject: Re: [RS] Slow traffic If you want a "country-ish" folkie try Amy Speace. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 23:21:25 -0400 From: "John McDonnell" Subject: [RS] Go postal! Hey All, RG wrote: >>Last weekend I spent some time going through the archives circa 2000-2002, and it was not rare to see single days with over 40 posts, and occasional days with over 60. Now it's rare that we see that many in an entire month. It saddens me a little.<< Come on lurkers! We need YOU! I find this list very open and tolerant, and really a comfortable environment to air your opinions about RS and his work--even if it's negative, or less than laudatory, which, it could never be, because he is the greatest songwriter who ever lived and anyone who doesn't know that is a simpleton. John McD. ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V9 #78 **********************************