Brother John

Our friend Brother John was laid to rest today.
He was a Marist brother who had spent much of his life teaching in Africa and in particular Cameroon.
It was very moving to see a number of his former pupils from Cameroon (many of whom had travelled a considerable distance) at the funeral in Glasgow today to pay tribute to and carry the coffin of a man they obviously held in high regard.
As one said of John and his friend and colleague Brother Norbert "they made us the men we are today" - a fine tribute.
And here is a musical tribute from Cameroon by Les Têtes Brulées with a song called Des Hauts et Des Bas which translates into English as The Ups and Downs.
Anyone who had the honour of knowing John will surely agree that this is an apt choice.


les Tetes Brulees - Des Hauts et Des Bas

Saturday Lucky Dip

For a brief period , in around 2004 I think, The Guardian Newspaper, issued a series of Free Compact Discs imaginatively titled FCD
From memory I think they came with the Saturday magazine section.
Anyway it would appear that I have about half a dozen of these kicking about which contain between 6 to 10 tracks and which are perfect for the morning commute as I experienced this week.
The randomly selected choice today has a bit of a Scottish slant in that 4 of the 6 tracks are from Scottish artists with the other two from an Australian and a proud English man.
I have other records by The Delgados, Sons and Daughters, Nick Cave and the Bad Seed and The Trashcan Sinatras so they will not feature today.
Rather, you are getting the Modfather himself Mr Paul Weller with his version of Dylan's All Along the Watchtower from his Studio 150 album. Not a patch on Mr Young's version which in turn is not a patch on Mr Hendrix's.
This is followed by Mr Colin MacIntyre better known as Mull Historical Society with Casanova at the Weekend from his 2004 album This is Hope

Paul Weller -All Along The Watchtower

Mull Historical Society - Casanova at the Weekend

For those of you that have not already done so can I recommend that you pop over to Sexy Loser to witness Dirk's epic homage to what would have been John Peel's 75th birthday with a staggering 75 Peel session tracks. Outstanding.

Sean, I'd Say the Best One Came From Tupelo Mississippi

Sean I'd say the best one came from Tupelo, Mississippi
I'll tell you now that grown men cry and Irish girls are pretty

Erik who has very kindly being giving us Mississippi geography lessons was scheduled to visit Tupelo this week.
This had me reaching for the shelves for references to the birthplace of a certain Elvis Aaron Presley.
First up is Mr Nicholas Edward Cave and his Bad Seeds with Tupelo from The Firstborn is Dead loosely based on the John Lee Hooker song of the same name about a flood.
This is swiftly followed by Uncle Tupelo the band that started a movement bringing Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar to the world's attention.
I was also under the impression that I had Tupelo Honey but a quick search of the Grumpy Irishman section proved fruitless. I'm sure it's there somewhere

Nick Cave &the Bad Seeds -Tupelo

Uncle Tupelo - Give Back the Key to my Heart

Flower Girl

I have absolutely no idea as to how, when or why Flower Girl a 1998 single by The Crocketts found its way into my collection.
Perhaps I heard it on the radio or perhaps I saw them in concert, presumably supporting someone else. Who knows.
I do know that it is almost certainly the first time this millennium that it has had an airing
The Crocketts were Welsh and had two albums on V2  We May be Skinny and Wiry from 1998 from which presumably this song was taken and The Great Brain Robbery from 2000.
They disbanded in 2002 with two members going on to form The Crimea.
And that's about it.

The Crocketts - Flower Girl

The Crocketts - Mrs Donnelly

A Right Couple of Charlies

Feathers

Rich

I've just finished reading Lost Highway by Peter Guralnick.

At first I was a wee bit disappointed as I thought it would be pretty exclusively about country music. Country music does feature writ large but there is also a smattering of blues and rockabilly - which on reflection is no bad thing.

It features stories about artists lives on the road and as well as famous artists such as Elvis, Ernest Tubb,Merle Haggard and Howlin' Wolf it also features less famous ones such as Deford Bailey,Sleepy LaBeef and James Talley and the chapters on these rarely featured artists are perhaps the most interesting.

The book was written in the late 1970s and the chapter on Charlie Feathers is entitled the Last of the Rockabillies and features him playing a series of small clubs in an attempt to recapture the fame he enjoyed during his early years.

Charlie Rich also enjoyed fame at Sun at the start of his career. There then followed a period in the wilderness before he achieved world wide success with The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and Behind Closed Doors.Interestingly the book relates how he struggled to come to terms with this new found fame and all it's trappings.

Interesting stuff and well worth a read (and a listen).

Charlie Feathers -Tongue Tied Jill

Charlie Rich - Sittin' and Thinkin'

Dolly and Porter

I downloaded this terrific picture of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner ages ago and ever since have been looking for an opportunity to post it.

The thing is I don't own any of the music they did together.

However my dilemma was recently resolved when I acquired Like a Rose by  Ashley Monroe only to find her doing a duet with Blake Shelton in a Dolly and Porter stylee

As an added bonus you are getting my all time favourite Dolly song.

The only Porter Wagoner song I seem to own is an average version of Satisfied Mind. I could of posted that but felt it would be a whole  lot better to post a video of his terrific version of Johnny Cash's Committed to Parkview.

Quality

You Ain't Dolly (And You Ain't Porter)

Dolly Parton -Coat of Many Colours

Porter Wagoner - Committed to Parkview

The Blues Collection - Magic Slim

Magic Slim and his missing finger

Magic Slim (Morris Holt to his mum) was born in 1937 in Torrance , not the one in Stirlingshire, Scotland but the one near Greneda in Mississippi. I am looking forward to receiving more information about Torrance from Erik our Mississippi Delta correspondent.
He moved to Chicago but not before losing a finger in a cotton gin accident (Morris not Erik)  putting pay to any hope of a career as a pianist.
There he got in tow with Magic Sam who bestowed his nickname upon him.
He quickly became an integral part of the Chicago blues scene performing in the Juke Joints with his band The Teardrops.
Here on these two tracks from 1982 (the first one of his own composition and the second a bluesed up cover of Rufus Thomas' Walking the Dog)  the band consists of his brother Nick Holt on bass, Pete Allen on guitar and Nate Applewhite on drums. On occasions another brother  Lee Baby Holt performs the drumming duties.He also had a sister known as Hercules who was over 6 feet tall as were all the brothers.
Sadly, he died in Philadelphia in February 2013 at the age of 75 .

Magic Slim - Early Every Morning

Magic Slim -Walking The Dog