Bloodshot Records Sampler 2018

 

Welcome to the penultimate offering in the Americana Compilations Sunday Series

The target of 50 albums would never have been achieved it it wasn't for Chicago's Bloodshot Records label.

By my reckoning Bloodshot have contributed 8 of the 5 entries.5 of these have been Samplers  with 2018 being the most recent. I've tried to make it a mix of the usual suspects with the occasional wild card to mix things up a little.

Robbie Fulks is certainly no stranger to this series. This time he is joined by Linda Gail Lewis  (sister of Jerry Lee) with Wild Wild Wild.

Lydia Loveless has appeared on all the Samplers from 2015 to 2018. Here she gives her views on Midwestern Guys.

William Elliott Whitmore has graced these pages before but only once in a Bloodshot capacity promoting this very Sampler with Busted.

I couldn't conclude the Bloodshot contribution without featuring the omnipresent Jon Langford . Here he is with his Four Lost Souls on the Natchez Trace.

We conclude this Series next Sunday with the 50th and final offering.

Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis - Wild Wild Wild

Lydia Loveless - Midwestern Guys

William Elliott Whitmore - Busted

Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls - Natchez Trace

Saturday Shuffle 159

 

It's been a long time coming (far to long, if you ask me) but we finally get the opportunity to welcome pop star cum gardener Kim Wilde (daughter of Marty) to the Shuffle. Here she is, in all her glory, with Chequered Love.

How do you follow that? With a little bit of Little Feat of course. It's Dixie Chicken time

We get a bit more serious for the final offering as we head to Birmingham where Steel Pulse are singing about a Handsworth Revolution.

More gardening, chickens and revolutions next Saturday.

Kim Wilde - Chequered Love

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken

Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution

Bellshill Bands - Jewel Scheme

 

I think it is safe to say that we are rapidly approaching the end of this series

Martin John Henry has appeared here before  in this series with De Rosa. He has also appeared on the Blog on other occasions as a solo artist and as part of the duo Henry and Fleetwood

Here from 2024 on Gargleblast Records he is joined on the eponymous Jewel Scheme album by Allan Carroll and Chris Connick.

The band are named after a housing estate in the Orbiston area of Bellshill. Such estates are known as Schemes in Scotland. The Jewel Scheme includes Sapphire Road, Diamond Street, Emerald Terrace, Amethyst Avenue, Amber Terrace, Agate Terrace and Cornelian Terrace. Let's face it , this is what you come here for.

Here is some info on the band and album courtesy of The Skinny

And here is some music.

Jewel Scheme -You're Not Wrong

Jewel Scheme - Spectral Index

As things stand there will be at least one more entry in this series

Songs From The Burst Chair

 

On Sunday night I was busily typing away when I suddenly found myself at a jaunty angle.

A bolt on my chair had sheered causing somewhat of a malfunction. I am now using one of the dining chairs until such times as I can procure a suitable replacement from a charity shop.

In the meantime it has given me the inspiration to post some chair related songs

I didn't have as many as I thought but here are a few for you to deposit your derrière on

Cake -Italian Leather Sofa

The Band - Rocking Chair

The Normal - Warm Leatherette

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue

Soup Dragons - Man About Town With Chair

Johnny Cash - The Mercy Seat

Dolly Parton R.I.P.

 

I was coming in from the recycling when Mrs CC called me in to the living room with the sad news that Dolly Parton had died at the age of 80.

It was perhaps not too surprising as she had stepped back recently due to illnesses. Also, she was probably still mourning the death of her husband Carl Dean.

She was the undisputed queen of Country Music. While she often portrayed herself as a dumb blonde she was anything but. She also never shirked from her desperately poor childhood.

Wiki lists her occupations as Singer-Songwriter, Musician, Actress, Philanthropist and (Shrewd) Business Woman. I added the shrewd given her setting up of the Dollywood theme park and Restaurants

The philanthropist reference is down to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library providing millions of free books to children.

Then obviously there is the music. I must admit that I wasn't a fan of all of her songs, but she wrote and sang some absolute classics such as the three below.

A tiny pocket rocket but nobody's fool. What a talent.The best of America.

Rest easy Dolly.

Dolly Parton - Jolene

Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colors

Dolly Parton - Down From Dover

Blog Country 149 - Mali

 

I'm happy to say that sourcing music from Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa,  has been the easiest one since Blog Country 115 Jamaica. This is primarily because I have a few albums featuring Malian artists and a sufficient number to save me digging in to the Sahel Sounds Samplers on Bandcamp

Khayem and Ernie are far more informative when it comes to the great music from this Country. 

Some Desert Blues to start with I think courtesy of Tinariwen is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of Northern Mali. From their 2006 album Aman Iman (Water is Life) on the Independiente label here is Awa Didgen

Next we have Kasse Mady Diabete  who was a Malian singer, musician and griot. His soft and particular voice with deep undertones – an atypical characteristic for a griot – earned him the nickname "The golden voice of Mali" From his 2008 album Manden Djeli Kan here is the opening track  Bandja.

Salif Keita often known as The Golden Voice of Africa is a member of the Keita royal family of Mali. From his 2002 album Moffou I give you Moussolou

From Global A Go-Go a 2007 Uncut album celebrating 20 Years of World Music we have Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (featuring Lobi Traore) with Banani which is taken from the Out/Here album Banani

We conclude with Songhoy Blues a desert blues band from Timbuktu who have enjoyed international recognition. From their 2017 album Resistance on the Transgressive label we have Bamaka.

Rest assured that Blog Country 150 is going to be considerably harder.

Tinariwen - Awa Didjen

Kasse Mady Diabete - Bandja

Salif Keita - Moussolou

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (ft Lobi Traori) - Banani

Songhoy Blues - Bamaka

The Tower

 

 2026 Charity Shop Purchases #28 - James Edwyn & the Borrowed Band

Like many other artists Glasgow based James Edwyn & the Borrowed Band first crossed my radar courtesy of Last Night From Glasgow.

Although, in my opinion, they were not that heavily promoted, I picked up High Fences (2017) and Highlights of The Low Nights (2022) .With their Americana feel they were right up my street.

I was therefore pretty chuffed when I picked up a CD in Oxfam of their 2014 debut album The Tower on the Dead Records Collective label. After two or three listens I'm coming round to thinking that it is the pick of the bunch

There is an excellent review by Rudie Humphrey on the Glasgow Americana Blabber 'n' Smoke site

I thought that was all that they had released but I have just discovered courtesy of Bandcamp that they released a 7 track digital album Before We Go in 2020. It has been duly purchased.

Hopefully there will be more soon and I will get an opportunity to see them live.

James Edwyn & the Borrowed Band - On Meeting The Man In The Suit

James Edwyn & the Borrowed Band - The Last Waltz