Today's instalment sees us over halfway along the Happy Hippy Chick Mix trail as we feature tracks 10 to 12.
I'm not sure how well known it is but Lucinda Williams started out as a Blues singer. Her 1979 debum album Ramblin' on the Folkways label was an album primarily of Blues covers with a couple of Country numbers thrown in for good measure. Happy Woman Blues, whose title track features here was her 1980 follow up of all original songs again on the Smithsonian Folkways label.
It would not be until 1988 until her self titled third album appeared that she reinvented herself as an Americana artist.
I don't think anyone would have put money on Lucinda being the only artist to appear twice on a mix and series with happy in the title.
There was a time when the Glasgow band Travis were actually quite good and not just bland and insipid. Hard to believe I know but it's true. Their 1997 debut album Good Feeling was in fact not bad at all and included the very bouncy single Happy.
Blues/folk/gospel singer Ruthie Foster was an artist that I discovered on a trip to Austin, Texas and got to see a couple of times. She is worth checking out. Joy is the final track on her 2002 album Runaway Soul and is rather uplifting. Some hope for these troubling times.
Lucinda Williams - Happy Woman Blues
Travis - Happy
Ruthie Foster - Joy
A good selection this week. That first Travis album was excellent. The second one, on which they became huge, holds a special place in my heart because I saw them playing their biggest hit prior to its release at a festival where the title of the song came true and... trite, maybe, but it was a very special moment. After that, they tried too hard. But such is often the case.
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