The Clarkston Americana Haul - Scott Miller & the Commonwealth

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #7 - Scott Miller & the Commonwealth - Citation

That's us now 2/3rds of the way through the Clarkston Americana Haul. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth are the only one of the six acts that I didn't previously have an album by although I have the occasional track by them here or there.

Citation was released in 2006 on the Sugar Hill label. Amazingly it was still in its polythene wrapping some 20 years after its initial release.

Scott was previously a member of the V-Roys who were on Steve Earle's E-Squared label.. This is the 3rd of 4 albums released on Sugar Hill. He had a  number of later solo albums on the self released F.A.Y. label and a collaboartive album with Rayna Gilbert in 2012. Nothing in the last 10 years so it doesn't look like he's still on the go.

Citation is produced by the legendary Jim Dickinson who has appeared here a couple of times before. 

All Music give the album 3.5 with comparisons to Ryan Adams and Steve Earle's younger brother which I could go along with. Well worth 50p.

Two more to go.

Scott Miller & the Commonwealth - Wild Things

Scott Miller & the Commonwealth - 8 Miles a Gallon

I-Pod Playlist - State of the Union

 

This week's I-pod Playlist is State of the Union and let's face it  it is in a right old state. 

The idea is to feature songs including the name of one of the 50 states of the USA.

In 2019 George gave us a great series featuring posts on all 50 states. It's well worth hitting the search button and giving them a read.

Only three states today I'm afraid taken pretty much at random.

We kick of with Lissie and Oh Mississippi the final track on her great 2010 debut album Catching a Tiger.

Lissie is followed with Twa Toots with Please Don't Play a Rainy Night in Georgia taken from a Peel Sessions recording from 1986.

We conclude with the late great Joe Strummer and Tennessee Man from the 1987 album Walker.

Next time round it is Namechecked i.e. artists or bands named in the titles of other artists songs.

Lissie - Oh Mississippi

Two Toots - Please Don't Play A Rainy Night In Georgia

Joe Strummer - Tennesse Rain

NB

Yesterday Blogger quite correctly flagged up a warning concerning the title of a Tommy Womack song on the compilation which I referenced but never featured. It was clearly a no brainer for Rol's Cancel Culture series.

I tried to edit the post but the warning remains in place.

Twangfest - Edges from the Postcard 5

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Saturday Shuffle 132

 

I was looking at previous Shuffles during the week and a noticed a few things.

There are two numbers 23,43,53 and 54, no 32 and one with no number. Therefore this is, I think, actually SS138. I don't have the time of inclination to go back and correct the mistakes. Also it is a good while this there was an error so I appear to have become more dilgent (for the time being) .

Three songs this week which I don't think have appeared in this series before. Given the above, please don't quote me on that!

First up are The Frank and Walters surely the finest band ever to have come out of Cork. Here is probably their best known song Fashion Crisis Hits New York.

There are a couple of live albums by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band on the MP3 player. This version of The Promised Land was recorded live in Passiac, New Jersey on 19th September, 1978.

We conclude with Steve Wynn who I recently saw live as lead of The Dream Syndicate. Here he is with Amphetamine  from the 2003 album Static Transmission by Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3.

SS 133 next Saturday ( or if you prefer SS 139!)

The Frank and Walters -Fashion Crisis Hits New York

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - The Promised Land

Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 - Amphetamine

Blog Country 133 - Ghana

 

If you have a couple of days to spare and are looking for something to do you could do worse than to pop over to Ernie's place and type Ghana into the search function. The songs will keep you busy for days.

I usually try to avoid stepping on Ernie's toes when it comes to African countries but I had neither the time nor the inclination to check whether any of these artists featured there feature here.I suspect some may have but it will do no harm to hear more from them.

I discovered that Ed Sheeran has the Ghanaian flag tattooed on his wrist.That very nearly stopped me going any further.

In no particular order lets kick off with  Wendy Shay who in March 2021 was among the top 30 Most  Influential Women in Music according to the Ghanaian 3Music Awards. Here she is with Too Late.

Next up is Amakye Dede a high life musician i.e music characterised by melodic brass instruments, multiple guitars and rhythmic percussion. Here he is joined by Apollo Kings International with the song Asem to Mea Kabi Mame.

Ben Brako is another high life musician who rose to prominence in the mid to late 80s. His song today is Moko Mekrom.

We've managed to make some room for Paapa Yankson & the Christian Singers with Gye Me Oo.

Last, but not least,we conclude with some royalty courtesy of King Ayisoba a traditional musician known for his unique style of music alongside the kologo a traditional 2- stringed lute from Northern Ghana.The song is I Want to See You My Father

Apologies for the delay in this one. The enormity of the artists available had me avoiding diving in for too long.

Next time round it will be yet another African country.

Wendy Shay - Too Late

Amakye Dede (ft Apollo Kings International) - Asem to Mea Kabi Mame

Ben Brako - Moko Mekrom

Paapa Yankson & the Christian Singers -Gye Me Oo

King Ayisoba - I Want To See You My Father

News of the World - 3

 

This week's headliner The S*n makes last week's News of the World rag look like a Parish newsletter.

It is every bit as salacious as the NoW but managed to sink to even lower depths  when it "reported " on the Hillsborough Disaster of 15th April 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans ( a further fan died after the above picture) were crushed to death at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium in a FA Cup semi-final  against Nottingham Forest

The South Yorkshire Police were also complicit in spreading such untruths and were widely criticised in The Taylor Report (see link above)

I remember that we were in a pub in Glasgow's West End when the news first came on the TV. My pal Pete, who stayed in Sheffield at the time, was rightly worried as he had friends attending the game. Thankfully they emerged unscathed.

The S*n was rightly boycotted by the majority of the citizens of Liverpool and to this day many newsagents there won't stock it. Never Buy the S*n as Billy Bragg rightly sings.

Today's second  tabloid paper is the Daily Star which  has run from 1978 as a S*n impersonator. Probably not what Belly had in mind when they released this single .

This weeks two news related songs as opposed to newspaper related are Turn on the News by Hüsker Dü  and News at Ten by The Vapors.

Look out for your paper boy/girl next Thursday

Billy Bragg - Never Buy The Sun

Belly - Star

Husker Du - Turn On the News

The Vapors - News At Ten

The Clarkston Americana Haul - Marah

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #6 - Marah - If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry

From 2005 and on the Munich label in Europe and Yep Roc in the US  If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry is 7th album by the band Marah.

It joins their second album Kids in Philly on the blue Americana shelves. Kids was an album I bought with some of my winnings from the Grand National sweepstake at work back in 2018

Like the Deadstring Brothers they can only loosely be defined as Americana, but where else would they go? Stephen King ( yes him!) describes them as probably the best band in America that nobody knows. He then slightly ruins it by calling then the American U2.

I don't see that myself. If I did it would be going straight back.

My instinct is that it is a keeper but that it will also be a grower. Feel free to quote me on that Mr King.

Probably worth 50p

Marah - The Dishwasher's Dream

Marah - Poor People

That takes my Americana total up to 666!