Bob Frank and John Murry – Boss Weatherford

Frank and Murry

Memphis, Tennessee native Bob Frank’s story is legend: as a young man he worked as a songwriter for Tree Publishing in Nashville and shared the stage with Tim Buckley and Townes Van Zandt. He signed to Vanguard Records to release one brilliant album in 1972, cussed label president Maynard Solomon at his record release show in New York City, and was promptly dropped from Vanguard’s roster. He reveled in his own obscurity for nearly 35 years, all the while writing songs with little interest in public opinion. In 2005, John Murry, an eccentric 26 year old songwriter from Tupelo, Mississippi and descendant of William Faulkner who had recently moved to California from the South, tracked down Bob Frank on the recommendation of a mutual friend. They quickly became friends and, seemingly just as quickly, began writing together.
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Learn more about Bob Frank here: Bob Frank Songs

Mike & The Moonpies – The Hard Way

Mike Moonpies

Playing Austin music earlier today instantly made me think of some wonderful time spend in this great town of music. First to come to mind was seeing and hearing Mike & The Moonpies on a very drunk night at the White Horse. The sonic quality of this video is a little below Lo-Fi but, as I have stated before, real music don’t need any fancy production. The video footage is very nice and it looks like, I could be wrong here, they are drinking at the Horseshoe Lounge – I would like to do that again, soon.

Jon Dee Graham – The Orphan’s Song

John Dee Garage

Jon Dee Graham is one of those artists who has produced consistently excellent music for decades but has usually slid under the commercial radar. He has released seven solo albums as well as having been a member of The Skunks and The True Believers. Graham has also been a three-time inductee into the Austin Music Awards Hall Of Fame (as a solo artist and member of these two bands)… Jon Dee Graham remains an undiscovered treasure outside of his native Texas. Garage Sale is a fine introduction to one of the Southwest’s best singer/songwriters.
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Cookie Jackson – Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad

Behind cloes doors

Soul artists have been covering country songs for as long as soul and country have been distinct styles. This compilation offers a good overview — mostly Southern soul, but also doo wop, soul-blues, Northern soul, and straight­ahead country — while providing a few surprises. Many of the expected suspects are present: Al Green (applying the vintage Hi sound to “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”) and the late Solomon Burke (roughing up Jim Reeves’s “He’ll Have to Go”), both of whom crossed over on numerous occasions; country-soul divas Candi Staton and Bettye Swann; Joe Simon, Joe Tex, and Esther Phillips, all of whom went country at full-album length. But it includes some lesser-known gems, too, led by a Tami Lynn cover of Loretta Lynn’s “Wings Upon Your Horns” that oozes remorse, and a stomping reinvention of “My Elusive Dreams” from Moses and Joshua Dillard. “Behind Closed Doors” is a fine introduction to this fascinating species of musical cross-pollination.
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First Up

There are mainly three reasons for this blog, though you might say it’s only two. First of all I got a deadline from an old and very good friend of mine, saying something like: “..before the end of the year you got to get your own blog”. So I thought, well, why not do it now! Second it’s a Facebook thing, controlling your own content (well, this is actually the same reason as number one). Third reason is the same as everybody, I’m a music lover and I’m growing old, so I think I should show the world what good music is all about (not unlike Dylan in his radio show, but I wouldn’t compare myself to Dylan of course!) So here it is, irregularly updated with whatever comes to my mind, mostly read by noone, so bear with me, I’m a first time blogger and I’m a slow learner.