Chatham County Line

When Mrs CC was amassing her pile of  Country CDs in a charity shop in St Andrews I sneaked one in when she was not looking.
It was IV which, not surprisingly, is the fourth album by Raleigh, North Carolina  bluegrass band Chatham County Line. From 2008 it was released on the ever wonderful Yep Roc label.


It is bluegrass but with a modern slant. Not necessarly as fast and relentless as the traditional stuff but with plenty of banjos and mandolins on display.
The first track The Carolinian could potentially have been one for George's State of the Union series had it specified either North or South and if it hadn't actually been about a train.
On a more serious note the second track  Birmingham Jail is about the murder of four young black girls by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963
This being Alabama those responsible were not charged and jailed until 1977 in one instance,2001 and 2002 in  two other instances and with the 4th alleged murderer dying before he could be charged.
Although the suspects were all identified by 1965 the case was closed by the FBI, under the instructions of J Edgar Hoover, in 1968.
Such a thing couldn't happen today in Trump's America, could it?

Chatham County Line - The Carolinian

Chatham County Line - Birmingham Jail

Double Initials -ZZ

and so the end is near

As you can see we are handing out medals today as we have finally made it to the end of the alphabet.
Also 6 months in I'm beginning to question my own rules or the lack of them.
Let's get today's offerings out the way first.

Never mind saving the best til last . First up is the great Blues/soul man Z.Z. Hill. Sadly his first two initials were actually A.J as he was in fact called Arzell J. Hill

Arzell is followed by two typically eclectic offerings from Ernie Goggins
We start with some Ethiopian rap (and why wouldn't you?)  courtesy of Ziggy Zaga ably assisted by Teddy Yo with a little ditty called Sawa Sawelegin.

Then we have early 70's Lafayette power pop band  Zuider Zee with Ackbar Didedar from their album Zenith

We finish as you would expect with the two guys with beards and Frank Beard.

Right that's the music out of the way.
This series has been enormous fun and has probably been the most interactive one to date.
A huge thanks to all of you who made suggestions in the comments section and to all of you who provided me with songs for this series particularly Ernie and Ramone666
I certainly would not have managed to complete the whole alphabet without you.

Suggestions for other series welcomed,
I've got something more mundane lined up for the next few Saturdays
CC

Z.Z.Hill - Don't Make Promises

Ziggy Zaga -Sawa Sawelegn (featuring Teddy Yo)

Zuider Zee - Ackbar Didedar

Z.Z.Top - Sharp Dressed Man

Rumble Doll

On our last trip to St Andrews Mrs CC came away with a slab of Country CDs. Among the not surprising offerings by the likes of  Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter  there was one outlier  Rumble Doll by Patti Scialfa.

Best known to most as a member of the E Street Band from 1984 and as Mrs Springsteen from 1991. However among us Bloggers her main claim to fame is having been at  one stage a downstairs neighbour of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer


The album is from 1993 and is the first of her three solo albums.It is produced by the Boss and Mike Campbell of Heartbreakers fame who contributes much of the music on the album. Nils Lofgren, Jim Keltner and Benmont Tench also make appearances.
Impressively 11 of the 12 songs including the two below are self-written.

It is a lot better than I thought it would be. Allmusic gives it 3 out of 5 which is just about right. 3.5 if you were being generous. Would Columbia have released this without her Springsteen connections? Probably not.
Her voice puts me in mind of Stevie Nicks and  in particular Emmylou Harris. I was making comparisons in my head with Emmylou's Wrecking Ball album although that did not come along until 1995.

Patti Scialfa - Rumble Doll

Patti Scialfa - Valerie

The St Andrews Vinyl Extravanganza # 5

I played four of the seven vinyl albums that I got for a pound apiece in St Andrews  a few months ago and then the series petered out.
The reason? Apart from the fact that I couldn't be bothered was that of the remaining three, two were second albums by artists already featured, and I never got round to giving the final one a listen.

As you can see from the picture it is Physical Graffiti a double Led Zeppelin album (their 6th studio one) from 1975 and it is the one with the sleeve which has a lot of little windows cut out  with the inner sleeves providing the pictures to fill in the gaps.
Not sure that I've explained that very well but most of you will be familiar with it.

I've never been a Led Zep fan. I have II and IV because in the days when I took notice of such things people told me they were the one's to get. I wasn't really fussed about this one but  like the White Album by The Beatles I wasn't about to turn it down for a quid.Discogs advises me that I could probably get in excess of 30 quid for it.
I am considering it an investment.


In the meantime here is Thursday's Long Song

Led Zeppilin - Kashmir

State of the Union -Tennessee

George writes:

The home of the Big Bang, this week. Yes, the Big Bang of country music, not any other minor big bang occurrence. The most important Big Bang in our (musical) lives lasted eleven days, 5 more than the biblical big bang, during which The Carter Family wandered in to the third floor of the Taylor-Christian Hat and Glove Company on State Street, Bristol, Tennessee, looking like hillbillies, and Jimmie Rodgers appeared too. 19 artists were recorded in all, and you can purchase the CD set from Bear Family Records for less than £87. 

First, this video, and check out Porter Wagoner’s suit, how cool is that??? I’m not a fan of Ms Parton’s music, but this simple delivery and fine musical accompaniment makes a splendid tune:

And from one slightly obvious Tennessee artiste to another:

Ike and Tina Turner - Nutbush city limits

That is probably the  best song you will hear all day.

The five most populous cities in Tennessee are Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Clarksville. It’s not terribly to difficult to find about 87 great songs with any of them in the title. For example, the majestic Shadows in 1964

 This song is from the Goodbye Babylon box set. It comes in a wooden box, and with some cotton; this track dates from 1930, Elder Charles Beck accompanies our gospel singer Elder Curry on the piano.

Elder Curry and Congregation - Memphis flu

I hope the frogs of Memphis don’t break the law by croaking after 11pm. 

I found a web page that listed Famous People from Tennessee. It did not include Elvis Presley. Top of the list is someone I have never heard of. Ranker

Memphis, apart from being home to a musician or two of whom you might have heard is also home to Silky O’Sullivan’s, which is of course an Irish bar. And home to a goat tower, the goats kept in  the pen behind the bar have their own helter skelter, and so far there have been no reported goat-related accidents. One of our goats, on the other hand, broke a leg FIVE DAYS after we got him. He hobbled around with a cast for a few weeks and it certainly did not put him off his food.

Our goat Parsley

Knoxville, Tennessee is, to my great disappointment not named after John Knox, a leader of  the Reformation in Scotland. But it is the Knoxville of that cheery number The Knoxville Girl. This version is well worth a listen

Cheery is not an adjective associated with John Knox. 

Another state next week.

CC writes: George was on a roll there. Probably because there are plenty of songs to choose from this week.

Here is one of them

Arrested Development - Tennessee

Now Hear This!

The third of the four recent compilation purchases was Now Hear This! free with Word magazine in December 2005.
It was toddling alone quite nicely. One or two songs alright but nothing particularly special when bish, bash, bosh we get to tracks 10 to 12  three absolute belters in a row.

Track 10 - My Favourite Girl by King Creosote taken from his album KC Rules OK. If I didn't already have it I would be rushing out to buy it.
Track 11 - Calexico & Iron and Wine with A History of Lovers. Now I have albums by Calexico and by Iron and Wine but none of them together. On the strength of this track I will be tracking down In The Reins the album from which it was taken from.
Track 12 - Kamoukie by the legendary Malian artist Salif Keita making his debut on these pages..Good though it undoubtedly is I don't feel the urge to rush out and acquire the album M'Bemba. In case he is feeling upset about that I've included a picture of  the great man.

King Creosote - My Favourite Girl

Calexico & Iron and Wine - A History of Lovers

Salif Keita - Kamoukie

Sleigh Ride in July

Those of you tuning in for my proposed new Noisy Music Monday series may be a bit surprised to see Julie London. Although if that rocket went off it would probably be pretty loud.

The reason being that songs from Julie's Calendar Girl album appear on the first of the month and existing series trump new ones. Something noisy next Monday, promise.

This moths offering is Sleigh Ride in July  a song by Johnny Burke and  Jimmy Van Heusen.
The album blurb says:
It's sad to report that no month is safe for a girl. The girl in this tune got her's right in the middle of July. But the weather was good.
No, me neither

Julie London - Sleigh Ride in July