Afternoon drinking, abject laziness and a total lack of preparedness have led to a somewhat truncated and quickly thrown together Hogmanay post rather than the usual thoughtful reflection on the year just ending and the one about to start.
Our friends in the East will get the opportunity to bring in the New Year a wee bit before us so it seemed an opportunity to feature a couple of oriental themed songs from the recent charity shop acquisition that is the Very Best of Japan. Visions of China followed by a Georgio Moroder re-mix of Life in Tokyo -Part 1
I hope that you and yours had a good 2018 and best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2019.
Howlin' Tommy Terry sounds like the kind of guy who could get a gig with the legendary blues and soul label Chess Records. If it wasn't a made up name that is.
My last charity shop foray of the year saw me visiting Clarkston Toll on the southern fringes of Glasgow and coming away with three CDs and one vinyl album.
One of the three CDs was a Mojo compilation from August 2015 entitled Chess Classics.
Many of the artists have featured here before along with some of the songs.
Today you are getting Howlin' (Wolf), Tommy (Tucker) and Terry (Callier)
See what I did there?
Today's Saturday, right? Just checking.
If that is indeed the case it is time to announce the winner of the Memphis v Nashville contest.
The picture is a bit of a give away.
A victory by Todd Snider over Jason Ringenberg gives it to Nashville by 5 votes to 4.
I was tempted to drag it out to first to ten but this seems like a good place to stop. I had plenty of Memphis material but was struggling a bit for Nashville.
Here are a couple though.
As I mentioned yesterday I only purchased about ten or so albums released in 2018.
However as well as my random charity finds I also picked up some stuff from artists who were due a revisit or who had come to my attention for one reason or another.
So here is another list of 10 - this time in alphabetical order as opposed to rank.
bis - I had a vague recollection of bis from the mid 90's when they released the likes of Kandy Pop and Eurodisco. They have now come out of retirement and have signed to Last Night From Glasgow who are to release their album Slight Disconnects in February. I saw then live in April which led to me purchasing the album Social Dancing and am scheduled to see them again as part of the album launch.
Camera Obscura - the release of the Tracyanne and Danny album had me realising that I did not have very much by Camera Obscura despite being an admirer for many years..I only had Desire Lines so took the plunge and picked up Let's Get Out of This Country and My Maudlin Career.
Deer Tick - a band whose name I was familiar with as opposed to the music.Hearing Main Street on an Uncut compilation had me reaching for their album Divine Providence. Rawer and rockier than I was expecting but none the worse for that.
Dr Feelgood - the purchase of the book Lee Brilleaux - Rock'n'Roll Gentleman highlighted the dearth of Dr Feelgood on the shelves.Rectified with the purchase of Live at the BBC which features some classic R&B from 74-75 when they were at their peak.
Dream Syndicate - this one is down to Drew and his obsession with John Coltraine Stereo Blues. I'm a big Steve Wynn fan and have 4 of his solo albums.I had nothing by the Dream Syndicate prior to picking up 1984's Medicine Show.
Marah -quite why I have had nothing by Marah on the shelves up until this year I will never know. I had always meant to get Kids in Philly but never got round to it until April this year.A wise way to spend some of my Grand National sweep stake money.
Mt Doubt. - A band I was aware of primarily as AnnieBooth is a member. I saw them playing at the ComeRainorComeShine event in Kelvingrove bandstand in July leading me to pick up a couple of singles and the album In Awe of Nothing.
Margo Price -another name that was constantly crossing my radar leading me to acquire Midwest Farmer's Daughter. On the cusp of alternative and mainstream country I wasn't sure about it at first but it has become a grower.
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - a band I have always admired but one who I only had the occasional song from a compilation. Picking up Reckless Burning and Oh, My Girl with my birthday money righted that wrong
Thrum - a band I had never heard of until Ian from LNFG advised that 3 of their members were now part of the Gracious Losers. Straightaway I went and sourced their 1994 album Rifferama which is a splendid racket.
A quick hit of the search button should give you some more details on all of the above.
I have enjoyed reading folk's top 10 records of the year and in Rol's case a top 18.
I traditionally struggle to produce a top 10 given that most years I do not manage to purchase 10 new one's
This year however I've just about managed it so here goes.
My list controversially includes two from 2017 which I picked up earlier this year.
10- Tango with Lions - The Light - some lovely Greek pop music from Inner Ear Records.
9 - L-Space - Kipple Arcadia - pleasant dream pop from another band from the Last Night From Glasgow stable.
8 - Karine Polwart - Laws of Motion - on Hudson Records - one which would have undoubtedly been higher had I listened to it more often. The anti Trump songs are a highlight.
7 - Zoe Bestel - Transience - beautiful ethereal and unworldly vocals from the youg ukelele playing artist from Galloway on the LNFG label.
6 - Tracyanne and Danny - on Merge Records and on many other top 10. Great to hear the dulcet tones of Ms Campbell again. The final track O'Keefe is a particular favourite of mine.
5 - Molly Burch -Please Be Mine - a 2017 album purchased with my Christmas money last year. Haunting Americana with shades of Paula Frazer and Tarnation.. Her debut album on Captured Tracks it was quickly followed up this year by First Flower.
4 - Carla J Easton - Impossible Stuff on Olive Grove Records. Her solo debut album. Great lyrics, a unique voice and shades of 60's pop.
3 - Beerjacket - Silver Cords is a book of short stories accompanied by a CD on the Scottish Fiction label.
I had the pleasure of seeing him perform these acoustic numbers in Some Great Reward record/coffee shop in Glasgow's Victoria Road.
2 - Kacy & Clayton -The Siren's Song - from 2017 on New West some brilliant Americana with a Laurel Canyon sound from the Canadian cousins who first came to my attention via a Mojo compilation.
1 - Gracious Losers - The Last of the Gracious Losers - on LNFG. Brilliantly described here by Scott
A combination of country, gospel and rock by Jonathan Lilley and his 12 piece ensemble.
Their gig at the Glad Cafe was my gig of the year with the one at the Great Eastern a close second.
I've just purchased A Talent For Being Unreasonable by Wojtek the Bear and it is too early to say where they would have featured.
I hope that you all managed to survive the excesses of yesterday because today we get to do it all over again.
Regular readers may recall that Boxing Day is Mrs CC's birthday.
Most of our nephews are too old, and the other two too young, to be taken in by her "born the day after the Baby Jesus" patter.
By way of compensation she get's to choose today's tunes.
My Sweet Lord by George Harrison is probably her favourite ever song. I know that because she chose it last year as well.
Her second choice Working My Way Back to You by the Detroit Spinners is a bit of a belter and wouldn't have been out of place on my Disco Friday slot.
Once your feet have stopped tapping please join with me in raising a glass and wishing Mrs CC a happy, relaxing and boozy birthday.
What have Shane MacGowan, Chris Kamara,the baby Jesus, my cousin Sandy and Annie Lennox got in common?
A clue - see the title of this post.
So spare a thought for them and all the others who probably only get the one card and the one present to cover the two occasions
Hope your day went well and that you are all fed and watered and still speaking to your loved ones.
Do yourselves a favour and listen to these and other tunes out there tonight.
It's that or Mrs Brown's Boys! Saint Etienne - I Was Born on Christmas Day
Spare a thought for the poor sods like me who are working today.
However, it will hopefully be a short and reasonably quiet day and after that I am off until the 3rd of January.
So time for all the traditional stuff -hence the picture and the music.
I'll also take the time to raise a glass (when I get home!) and wish you and yours a very happy and hopefully not to stressful Christmas.
The other night along with Mrs CC and her mum I went to the Concert Hall in Glasgow for Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook.
An enjoyable mix of Christmas songs and carols, traditional Scottish folk music and Christmas mash ups such as a Bluegrass version of Shakin' Stevens' Merry Christmas Everyone.
Whereas they were mucking about and having a laugh the super musicianship was very much on show.
Phil was on accordion (as you would expect), keyboards and corny jokes. He was joined by John McCusker on the fiddle, Ian Kerr on guitar, Kevin Maguire (who I used to see with the Felsons) on double bass and Kris Drever on vocals and guitar. Karen Matheson of Capercaillie fame and the irrepressible Eddi Reader also contributed some excellent vocals.
Here are songs by the three main vocalists. Kris Drever's Shining Star featured on the night.
Last week's Sheryl v Heather contest was heading for a low scoring draw until a late vote from Brian for Heather Myles and Nashville's Gone Hollywood saw the Music City snatch it at the death.
The score is now Memphis 4 Nashville 4 and I have decided that the first to 5 is the winner. So we are into sudden death and it is time for the Country boys this week in the form of Jason versus Todd.
In the Memphis corner is Jason Ringenberg sans Scorchers with Last Train to Memphis from his 2002 album All Over Creation released on Yep Roc in the States and Spit & Polish in the UK
Todd Snider has an album called East Nashville Skyline with a song called Nashville on it but I don't have that to hand. I do however have the song West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown from his 2012 album Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables
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A very tough call but I'm going for Todd and Nashville. Others, of course, may choose to differ.
Like many of you, I suspect, my pals and I have a What's App chat group. It probably started out with a serious purpose but has quickly degenerated into a platform for us to type complete and utter nonsense.
One of the Group invited contributions for a Xmas playlist which he was going to put on a cassette (as I say complete and utter nonsense) until it was pointed out that neither he nor the rest of us had the necessary technology.
So instead he curated a Spotify playlist here
We started out with some obscure and/or down right silly suggestions and then it went completely downhill from there - Genesis anyone?
He was however buzzin' as he thought he had smashed it but I am at a loss as to how Chinos Roasting on an Open Fire by WillGant & theChincams failed to make the final cut.
As the cover would suggest this sampler was released in the summer as opposed to the depths of winter.
It is only now that I have got round to giving it a more than cursory listen.
It was made available via Noisetrade I'm not sure if you can still download it but if you can it is well worth your while.
Oh Pep! were originally a female duo from Melbourne, Australia who have been on the go since 2009. They have also recorded as a larger band with three EPs and two albums to their name. An act I think who may possibly be right up Brian's street and maybe a few others as there are comparisons to the likes of Camera Obscura. They have nothing to do with the Manchester City manager as far as I am aware.
If Adam's House Cat sound vaguely familiar that is because they were a band formed in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 1985 who included Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood who subsequently became Drive-By Truckers. Oh Pep! - What's the Deal with David?
Two queens for you today from opposite ends of the spectrum.
At one end we have Johnny Cash with Ballad of a Teenage Queen who is tempted by the bright lights but returns to marry the boy next door who worked at the candy store.
An alternative take from The Legendary Sun Records Story Volume 2 box set.
It is a fair bet that Tina, the Go-Go Queen never felt the urge to return home to the boy next door. A song by Tav Falco's Panther Burns from the It Came from Memphis compilation.
Ten posts seems like a good time to bring this series to a temporary halt. Not because I'm running short of material but rather because I am running short of enthusiasm.
One I will probably visit at a later stage when I'm stuck for inspiration.
The last charity purchase from the pile is not Reformation Post TLC by The Fall. You just don't see Fall records in charity shops or at least I don't.Mores the pity.
No, the CD in question is Uncut: The Playlist March 2007 the second Uncut compilation purchased for the combined total of a pound in the Mental Health charity shop in Stranraer. Thankfully I did not already have a copy of this one.
The more astute among you may have worked out that one of the songs which I shall feature is Reformation Uncut by the mighty Fall. from the album mentioned above.
Marissa Nadler has featured a couple of times recently and is clearly an artist who requires further exploration.This song comes from her 2006 album Songs III:Bird on the Water which is on the Peacefrog Records label
From 2015 The Bell That Never Rang is the title track and centerpiece of the fourth album by the Scottish folk band Lau.
They consist of Kris Drever (who composed the song and who I am seeing in January ), Martin Green and Aidan O'Rourke. The album is produced by Joan Wasser aka Joan as Policewoman.
The song was initially commissioned by the Celtic Connections festival to celebrate the Commonwealth Games which took place in Glasgow in 2014.
For a explanation as to the Glasgow coat of arms see here
This is their last album but I'm pleased to report that they are scheduled to release their next album Midnight and Closedown in February 2019.
I was playing True Faith a Mojo compilation during the week.An excellent mix of 15 tracks of soul-stirring gospel,country and blues.
I thought it was a recent acquisition but it turns out that it is from about his time last year and that I featured tracks by Bob Dylan and Odetta at the time.
It is one that is well worth featuring again. Let's start with the majestic Gospel legend Dorothy Love Coates with an absolutely stonking version of 99 and a Half Won't Do.
Dorothy is followed by the rockabilly and country legend Charlie Rich . Here the Silver Fox is paying homage to the Big Man. Dorothy Love Coates - 99 and a Half Won't Do
There was an emphatic win last week for Michael Chapman with Memphis in Winter over Jon Langford's Nashville Radio.
Memphis therefore gains a slender lead again with the scores now Memphis 4 Nashville 3
This week it is two Country ladies up against each other. It is Sheryl versus Heather.
In the Memphis corner is the more famous of the two Sheryl Crow with the title track from her eight album 100 Miles from Memphis released in 2010
The Nashville offering is Heather Myles with Nashville's Gone Hollywood from her album Sweet Talk and Good Lies.
An easy one for me this week. I'm going for Honky Tonk Heather. Others, as always may chose to differ
We are getting close to the first to 5 . I'm happy to end it there or if there is any demand to try for first to 10 I will carry on if I can source some more Nashville songs.
Full Moon Fever briefly joined an elite club of albums I have on vinyl and CD.
It didn't achieve this feat as it is a classic. It is good but no classic. No, the CD version was purchased as makeweight in a five CDs for two pounds offer in a charity shop in Stranraer.
I say briefly as it is going back. Not because it is bad (it isn't ) but because it is a bit gubbed in places with two or three tracks jumping or sticking.
From 1989 it was Tom Petty's first solo album although most of the Heartbreakers and all the Traveling Wilburys make an appearance. It is also his most commercially successful record.
I've deliberately omitted the three hit singles Free Fallin', I Wont Back Down and Runnin' Down a Dream as you will also be familiar with them plus they have featured here before.
So instead you are getting The Apartment Song and a cover of the Gene Clark song (I'll ) Feel A Whole Lot Better first recorded by The Byrds, Tom Petty - The Appartment Song
I've just about reached the bottom of the pile of charity shop CD's picked up on my travels between September and November.
One is Uncut: The Playlist August 2006 purchased in the Mental Health charity shop in Stranraer. It was 50p so I thought I would chance it as I wasn't sure if I already had it.
Checked the shelves and it wasn't there so seems I'm sorted. Or am I?
Checked the blog archives to see which Golden Smog songs I've featured and the one on the CD Listen Joe popped up
Turns out I posted it August 2017 when I featured Uncut: The Playlist August 2006 which I had bought in Stranraer and subsequently returned. So it looks as though I have bought this twice in Stranraer and who knows it may even be the same copy.
For the obligatory Americana track then you are getting Sufjan Stevens instead of Golden Smog.
I've featured Venus in Furs before, Indeed it was one of the very first songs to feature on the blog, However it was the version by the Ukranians as opposed to the Velvets. Here then is the original.
This week sees Osbourne Ruddock the King of Jamaica and Kenny Anderson the King of Scotland.
If you do not recognise the names how about King Tubby and King Creosote.
King Tubby is a legendary Jamaican sound engineer and according to the sleeve notes of Crucial Dub he was the original founder of Dub,mentor of Lee Perry, and a hugely respected and innovative figure in Jamaican music.
Is it just me or can others hear a bit of Ring of Fire on Dub Experience?
King Creosote surely needs no introduction. You Just Want is the opening track off his 2016 album Astronaut Meets Appleman and I have just realised that it is longer than this week's Monday Long Song. King Tubby -Dub Experience
I have a vague recollection of the single Ever So Lonely by the band Monsoon way back in 1982.
The lead singer of the band was Sheila Chandra who I have just learned appeared in Grange Hill playing Sudhamani Patel.
I picked up Moonsung: A Real World Retrospective of her solo work in a Stranraer charity shop along with the Afro Celt Sound System CD on the same label which I featured a few weeks ago.
Moonsung is an interesting blend, or to give it a posher name fusion, of Indian music and folk songs.
It is a very ethereal sound and almost meditative in places. Mrs CC is quite taken with it as am I but I tend to skip over the song where she is speaking in tongues.
Sadly Sheila is no longer performing having quit in 2010 due to burning mouth syndrome.
Ok, so 6 minutes 38 seconds is not a particularly long song.
But these things are all relative and it is long song in the context that it is long for a band who were the masters of the three minute single. Pete Shelley is joined in the songwriting credits by Steve Diggle, Stephen Garvey and John Maher.
Although it is from as far back as 1978 it seems far removed from some of their earlier singles.
It represents a change in direction and one which certainly influences a number of bands who came after. I can see how the likes of The La's and Cast were influenced by this. You can probably come up with some others.
Mrs CC came in a couple of months ago with a couple of charity shop CDs one of which was a two albums on one CD by the Scottish funk and R&B band the Average White Band thus trebling the number of their records on the shelves.
The two albums in question are from the mid to late 70's when they were releasing records on the Atlantic label. I'll write that again THE Atlantic label!
The first song is taken from the 1975 album Benny & Us- a collaboration with Ben E King. I'll write that again - a collaboration with Ben E King!
Ben E doesn't feature in the 1978 follow up Warmer Communications a play on words given that Warner Communications are the parent company of Atlantic..
It is pleasant enough stuff. There is nothing of the quality of Cut the Cake or Pick Up the Pieces but these two past muster.
A fairly comfortable win last week for Steve Dixon over Piney Brown which means that the scores on the doors are now Memphis 3 Nashville 3 . It has been nip and tuck all the way with neither side having established a two point lead as yet.
This week we have two stalwarts who have both been round the block a few times in their particular spheres.
The first in Michael Chapman a fairly prolific artist in the folk and jazz fields with over 40 albums to his name. He was new to me until Memphis in Winter popped up on the Mojo - Black Mountain Sides compilation from which I recently featured 75 Dollar Bill.
I've no idea how many albums Jon Langford has issued in his various guises but it could well be close to 40. He has churned out a few solo albums as well as the many collaborations. Nashville Radio comes from the 1998 Gravestone EP on the Bloodshot label.
This is the one that is up against Michael Chapman. However he produced a shorter, quicker version which appears on The Nashville Radio Companion Earwig which is included with his wonderful art book Nashville Radio:Art , Words and Music and which is also posted for completeness.
I like the Chapman song but I can't bring myself to vote against Langford so it is Nashville for me this week.
Others, of course, may choose to differ.
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I was gutted to hear about the death of Pete Shelley at the far too young age of 63.
One of the finest songwriters and singers of his generation.
He must have been around 23 when he wrote and sang Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) in 1978
In the succeeding 40 years it has never been out of my top 10 songs of all time. One that would accompany me to a desert island.
I was playing Going Steady in the car on the way to work this morning and ended up playing it twice as once was not enough.
As I mentioned yesterday a recent 50p charity shop purchase Very Interesting Persons by Findlay Napier came complete with a blank CD tucked into the sleeve.
Probably another one of Findlay's albums or maybe a live session I thought as I stuck it into the CD player. It quickly became obvious that it wasn't Findlay. But who was it?
There was some vague recognition from me around the first track which is the one featured below. Typing details of the lyrics into a popular search engine I discovered that the track was called Drover, the album Apocalypse and the singer Bill Callahan.
I've long been an admirer of him but the only thing I have of his is the CD single Cold Blooded Old Times by his band Smog. Talking of Smog can I point you to an excellence ICA by Richard over at JC's place.
It has to be said Apocalypse is excellent and it is also slightly better that the Findlay Napier album.
So all in all a most welcome mystery bonus.
No - it is not what some of you are thinking.
Rather it is song written by Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine following the death of the great George Jones.
I picked up the CD which features this song VIP - Very Interesting Persons (Cherrygroove Records 2015) for 50p a few weeks ago in my local charity shop.
As the beard and jacket would suggest Findlay Napier is a folk singer. Not an act I know very much about although I am aware that he has recently released an album with a Glasgow theme
VIP is not bad at all.
Tucked into the sleeve was a CD with no details which was somewhat intriguing. More about that tomorrow.
Last week Country Queens. This week Jamaican Princes.
First up Madness take their CCM bow with their first single from August 1979 The Prince. A tribute to Prince Buster one of whose songs gave the band their name.
Madness are followed by the man himself with a song celebrating Jamaica's independence in 1962. Taken from Jamaican Explosion a terrific Mojo compilation from September 2016.
Finally, as an added bonus, you are getting a little bit of Prince Far I. Madness -The Prince
It's that time of the year again folks.
The good folk from Bloodshot Records in Chicago, the home of insurgent Country music, have released their annual sampler.
Twenty tracks by some of your old favourites and a few newcomers.
You should know the drill by now. Just head over to Bandcamp name your price and it's yours.
You can thank me later.
I said a hip hop Hippie to the hippie The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it out Bubba to the bang bang boogie, boobie to the boogie To the rhythm of the boogie the beat
This song which I have posted before was scheduled to appear a few weeks ago but was put on hold as some new charity shop acquisitions got an airing.
My copy of this classic from 1979 is taken from a compilation The Message: Roots of Rap.
From a time before the misogyny and the violence kicked in and the days before your Gansta rappers and your Tupac. No guns stuck down your underpants here.
Indeed, I would go as far as arguing that this, Grandmaster Flash,Wordy Rappinghood and the Beastie Boys are maybe all you need
I've no doubt SWC and some others may take issue with that pronouncement!
I realise that one or two of you may have got a little anxious when December's instalment of Julie London's Calendar Girl album did not appear yesterday. Yes George, I'm talking to you.
Worry not. Julie will make an appearance on the first of the month except when this clashes with a regular series. When this occurs she will appear the following day or as soon as possible thereafter.
Glad we cleared that up.
Here is Julie and the Pete King Orchestra with Warm December a song written by Bob Russell.
Wishful thinking Bob
It takes a lot to beat the Pixies and Letter to Memphis (and not Nashville as I wrote last week)
However the tag team of Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra were up to the task with Let's Burn Ole NashvilleDown.
The Nashvillians therefore now lead the Memphians by 3 to 2 and yes I did have to look that up.
This week we have a couple of crackers courtesy of the great Ernie Goggins the original Surfer of the Zeitgeist.
These are both new to me so I am making my decision after an initial listen.
In the Memphis corner we have Deep Soul artist Steve Dixon with the rather wonderful Sunday Afternoon in Memphis. All I have been able to find out about Steve is that his name was actually Steve Dickinson and that he came from and recorded in Mobile, Alabama
Nashville is represented this week by the r&b/ blues big voiced shouter Piney Brown or Columbus S. Perry to give him is Sunday name.Here Piney is extoling the virtues and dangers of Nashville Wimmen.
Thanks Ernie - I may well revisit your other contributions later on in the series.
So will Nashville extend it's lead or will Memphis draw level?
It is Steve Dixon and Memphis for me this week. Others, of course, may choose to differ.
I'm Simply Thrilled to be catching up with JC and Walter tonight and hopefully a few others as well.
It promises to be a great night and I am looking forward in particular to JC spinning some discs or more likely pressing a few buttons.
The list of Scottish artists who could feature is almost endless and from the track lists from previous nights I suspect we are in for a treat.
I'm sure there will be a few bangers blasting out and I for one would not be disappointed if these two beauties featured.
Match report to follow
John Hiatt is a name that has crossed my radar many times but I am not really that familiar with his music.
All I know is that he appears on the brilliant Flaco Jimenez album Partners with Across the Borderline a song he wrote with Ry Cooder. I recently discovered that he was part of the "super group" Little Village who someone gave me a CD from. He also appeared here in July with a good song called Crossing Muddy Waters from a 2000 Uncut compilation.
Sounds then like someone I need to know about and hear more of. Picking up Y'all Caught? The One's That Got Away 1979-1985 in a charity shop in Stranraer seemed a good place to start. Apparently a Best of from 5 albums he released on MCA and Geffen during this period..
I have to admit that I was majorly disappointed when I got round to playing it as it is very much AOR.
One part country, one part Blues, two parts Huey Lewis & the News.
I may have caught it but I am going to throw it back again.
This is a series which could run and run until I get bored with it given that there is so much material out there to choose from.
This week I am focusing on Country Queens and you are getting three in chronological order from the oldest to the most recent.
The best of the three also happens to be the oldest. From 2000 and from her debut album Not the Tremblin' Kind on Spit & Polish part of the Glasgow Shoe Shine label Laura Cantrell is the Queen of the Coast.
From 2011 and from the album of the same name Eilen Jewel is the Queen of the Minor Key.
Finally the title song from the 2017 album pictured above Outlaw country singer Nikki Lane is the Highway Queen.
Zoë Bestel first crossed my radar with the release of Transience on the Last Night from Glasgow label. A thing of beauty both musically and aesthetically. I also had the pleasure of seeing her playing the album in it's entirety at the Hug & Pint.
She comes from Whauphill in Galloway which is one of my favourite places in the world. So perhaps it was no surprise to stumble upon her previous album Sir Lucas and the Moon in the Cat Protection League in nearby Stranraer where I liberated it for 50p.
She is only about 20 and this album was released in 2014 suggesting that she was a bit of a child prodigy.
Not quite Kate Bush and The Man With The Child in His Eyes but not far of it.
The CD comes signed and dedicated but unfortunately not to me but to Evelyn, Ronan and Lana who Zoë advises are absolute lovelies.
I think the album cover picture was taken in the Bookshop in Wigton.
Today's band 75 Dollar Bill were first drawn to my attention by The Swede so apologies Sir if I've stepped on your toes.
It was he who first featured their 2016 album Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock on Thin Wrist Records which contains today's track I'm Not Trying to Wake Up.
It also features on the latest Mojo compilation Black Mountain Sides which is well worth your time.
Described accurately by Mojo as a droning powerplay out of a simple loping blues,suggesting a Gnawan ritual enacted by Junior Kimbrough.
Take a quarter of an hour out of your busy schedule to get in the zone
It looks as though I could potentially have another accidental series on my hands with Soundtracks of Films I've Never Seen
Last week The Big Lebowski this time round 12 Years a Slave bought at the same time in a charity shop in Blairgowrie.
Not as I thought initially a documentary about the great Dundee United manager Jim McLean and his habit of signing young players on prohibitively long contracts.
Rather it is a 2013 adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup directed by Steve McQueen.
Whereas the soundtrack is probably not quite my cup of tea it includes some pretty well known contributors including John Legend, Alabama Shakes, Alicia Keys and Laura Mvula.
I've gone for two of the above.
A victory for the Indigo Girls with Nashville last week partly on their own merits put also partly as a protest vote against Marc Cohen and the ubiquitous Walking in Memphis.
That means that we are back to all square with the score now being Memphis 2 Nashville 2.
I originally said it would be the first to 5 but I'm going to try and string it out to first to 10.This may depend of whether I have enough material particularly from the Nashville camp.
This week we go from mainstream AOR to something a lot more left field.
This week in the Memphis corner we have the mighty Pixies with Letter to Memphis from their wonderful Trompe Le Monde. Black Francis and the gang are up against Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra with Let's Go Burn Ole Nashville Down. A song from their album Prairie Home Invasion although I have it from the glorious Cowpunks compilation
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A trickier one this week but I am going for Mojo and Jello as they are having fun whereas the Pixies are far too earnest and serious for my liking. Others, of course, may choose to disagree.
Next week some songs courtesy of the Original Surfer of the Zeitgeist.
If you ever visit Granton-on -Spey in the Cairngorms you should make a point of popping into the bookshop. It is run by a lovely lady who is 68 and who knocked a couple of quid of the price of our purchases as she thought that the books were dusty!
I came away with Lee Brilleaux -Rock'n'Roll Gentleman a crowd funded book by Zoe Howe.
It is an excellent read about the sadly all too short life of the legendary Dr Feelgood frontman and bon viveur who came into the world as Lee Collinson.
Sadly he died in 1994 at the age of 41 at home in Leigh on Sea.. He died from lymphoma. Smoking and eating large amount of red meat can contribute to this two things he did in abundance.Twenty years of hard drinking probably didn't help much either.
He did however leave an impressive legacy of r&b/ pub rock music none of which I currently had until I picked up Dr Feelgood Live at the BBC in Glasgow's Love Music record shop recently.
It features songs from three sessions between March 74 to September 75 when Wilko Johnston was still the lead guitarist with the band
These two tracks were recorded at the Paris Theatre, London on 14th September 1975
I played New Gods by Withered Hand over the weekend for the first time in ages.I'd forgotten what an absolutely brilliant album it is.
Withered Hand is the stage name of Dan Willson from London but now based in Edinburgh.
He had an interesting background in that he grew up as Jehovah's Witness and did not begin his musical career until his wife bought him an acoustic guitar for his 30th birthday.
He was a member of the Fence Collective and has performed with Neil Pennycock of Mersault and Eugene Kelly who appears on the album.
I saw him a couple of years back at Celtic Connections alongside James Yorkson and Pictish Trail.
New Gods is his second album following on from 2009's Good News. I was surprised that is from as far back as 2014. A follow up would be most welcome,
The first band I ever saw in concert were Queen at the Glasgow Apollo in December 1975. Technically I suppose you could say that the support act Mr Big were the first band that I saw but they don't fit in to this series and I have no material by them.
The only Queen album I have and the only one you need is Sheer Heart Attack
I never got to see Prince but Mrs CC did at Hampden Park in Glasgow in June 1992
So today we have Queen singing about a Queen and Prince singing about Prince.
Featuring two legendary showmen who sadly are no longer with us
The 2010 eponymous album on the Fortuna Pop! label by the London based twee pop band Allo Darlin' stuck out like a sore thumb compared to most of the dross on the shelves in Barnardos in Stranraer.
A diamond in the rough.
Featuring the dulcet tones of Elizabeth Morris they were a band I know who were a firm favourite of Drew and not surprisingly Brian and a good few others I suspect.
I've a digital copy of their final single Hymn on the 45 from 2006 but this is the first of their three albums that I have managed to acquire. I shall endeavour to track down the other two.
Obvious comparisons to the likes of Camera Obscura which let's face it is no bad thing.
Mrs CC came in a couple of months ago with Some Other Sucker's Parade the fifth studio album from Del Amitri from 1997. Absolutely dreadful, Shockingly bad. It was swiftly dispatched back from whence it came.
She redeemed herself a few weeks later by returning with What Is Love For the 2007 debut solo album by their front man Justin Currie.
It is pretty good with the absolute standout track being the last one on the album No, Surrender.
Coming from the West of Scotland you listen to a song with that title with more than a little degree of trepidation.
I needn't have worried as the knuckle draggers get it in the neck along with everyone else.
A musical equivalent of a Drew rant. Take it away Justin ....
Confession time and it's one which is likely to make me loose the small degree of credibility that I currently have left.
I've never seen The Big Lebowski! Sorry Dude.
I'm not quite sure how this has happened given that I enjoy the films of the Coen Brothers.
Now that's out the way it's onto the music.Mrs CC selected the Original Soundtrack in a charity shop in Blairgowrie and I thoroughly approve of her choice.
It is somewhat eccentric, eclectic and left field, descriptions which, I imagine, may also apply to the film.
Produced by the Coens and T-Bone Burnett. it contains classical music,opera, Captain Beefheart and Kenny Rogers murdering a soul classic. It does as one review suggests contain some skipables.
I'm going for another couple of covers. The Gypsy Kings first with a somewhat unique Latin slant on Hotel California. Walter featured Townes Van Zandt's cover of the Stones' Dead Flowers about a month or so ago.I'm featuring it again here as for me it is the standout track on the album.
As things stand it is now Memphis 2 Nashville 1 following Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennessee defeating Steve Earle's South Nashville Blues. Steve started strongly but Chuck's greater experience gradually came to the for.
This week we are going slightly more MOR for what I expect may be another close contest.
If you were to ask 100 people to name a Marc Cohn song chances are if they had heard of him at all they would all plump for Walking in Memphis. Very much a one-hit wonder. I picked up his eponymous album in a charity shop and all the other tunes are pretty forgettable.
The Indigo Girls on the other hand have never had a hit of that scale but have produced a consistent body of work over the years including Nashville a song from their 1992 Rites of Passage album.
I'm going for Nashville this week as although Walking in Memphis is a good song it is a bit too ubiquitous for my taste.
Others, of course, may choose to disagree
