Harlem 69 - The Future of Soul

I am currently enjoying reading and being educated by Harlem 69:The Future of Soul the final installment in Stuart Cosgrove's excellent Soul Trilogy.
There are a number of references in the book to 110th Street which is seen as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park.
Cosgrove also references the 1972 crime drama film Across 110th Street which as the title suggests is set in Harlem.
I am not familiar with the film but am familiar with the song thanks to Tarintino's film Jackie Brown which first drew my attention to the music of Bobby Womack who until then was only a name to me.
The song is quite superb. I have featured it before and no doubt I will feature it again.
I was not aware that there was a Part 2 until I stumbled upon it on an Uncut compilation The Original Funk Soul Brothers and Sisters!
Interesting but not a patch on Part 1

Bobby Womack -Across 110th Street

Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Part 2)

Double Initials - DD

You will be glad to see that I refrained from posting the now infamous David Davies double D picture (feel free to look it up)


And sadly no Dobby Dobson or Diblo Dibala this week sorry to disappoint you Dirk and George.


None of you managed to guess my first choice which is Dublin folk singer Damien Dempsey a man with an Irish accent thicker than Kerrygold butter. Here is his take on the Pogues song A Rainy Night in Soho.


George managed to assuage his disappointment somewhat by correctly guessing the Dallas band The  Deathray Davies. To be fair there was a certain degree of local knowledge as he knows that I like them having seen them in Austin. Today's song is from the splendidly named 2001 album Return of the Drunk Ventriloquist.


Ernie got in on the act marginally before Rol by correctly guessing Desmond Dekker as the third artis. I've gone for the second most obvious song


Rol however sprung back with his tongue firmly in his cheek by  suggesting Duran Duran. I'm going to feature them as Mrs CC was a bit of a Duranie and if I am ever going to post them it may as well be here.


We are about to hit the first tricky one with EE. For a while you nearly getting Edward Elgar until I manged to come up with someone else.
I may struggle for three unless I adopt a bit of jiggery pokery or you good folk come up with some interesting suggestions.


Damien Dempsey - A Rainy Night in Soho

The Deathray Davies -The Bitter old Man Blues

Desmond Dekker - 007 (Shanty Town)

Duran Duran - Save a Prayer

February Brings The Rain

It's the first of the month again so it is time for the February number on Julie London's Calendar Girl album.Wonder wht the big heart is for.
We are a third of the way there already George.
February Brings the Rain sings Julie. I'll settle for that given that we have had a bit of snow during the week. Plus it is really good to finally see the back of January.

I don't have much intel on this one I'm afraid other than it was written by Bobby Troup and it was recorded with The Pete King Orchestra in 1956.
It was also the  b-side of the wonderful Cry Me a River.
That's us until next month.

Julie London - February Brings The Rain

Some New Old Timey Music

Photograph (c) Erica Chambers Photography

I hope shortly to have some time to be able to give some brief feedback on the three recent gigs that I have attended.
Until then here are a few lines about the support act at the Karine Polwart and Kris Drever with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert at the King's Theatre


The Local Honeys are a bluegrass duo from Kentucky. Linda Jean Stokley plays  guitar and fiddle and is from the Blue Grass Mountains with banjo player Montana Hobbs hailing from the foothills of the Appalachians. They were the first females to graduate with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Traditional Music from Morehead State University.
Although their music is traditional and they have the utmost respect for their culture and history they also come across as somewhat left field highlighting such things as environmental concerns and their female role models.
At a concert in Cork an audience member exclained - you sing like angels and play like devils.


Given there choice of genre it is highly unlikely they will ever make the big time and they will probably struggle to scratch a living purely by making music.
They come across as two young ladies who are good at and who enjoy what they are doing and who seem genuinely excited to have the opportunity to travel to foreign shores to ply their trade. They even went as far as taking a selfie of themselves and the audience for their Moms back home.


They have recently  been touring in  England but if you are north of the border and quick you can catch then in Falkirk tonight, Inverness on 1st Feb, Ullapool on the 2nd and Aberdeen on the 3rd. You will be guaranteed a good night out.

State of the Union - Illinois

George writes
Number 4, and it’s Illinois, birthplace if William Jennings Bryan. You might think that, given that Chicago is in Illinois, you might get a blues track, or two. We shall see.

Illinois is the USA’s largest producer of pumpkins, which fact inspired the name of one of the state’s more famous groups, the Smashing Pumpkins.

And Walt Disney comes from Illinois (Chicago), which reminds me of this:

Question: What’s the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney?

Answer: Bing sings, and Walt disnae.

Like New York I found it a challenge to unearth a track about Chicago that might not be very familiar to many. Of course, I could be wrong there. The Hold Steady have made some belting albums, Stay Positive is a favourite in this house, one that inevitably results in a “that’s too loud, George” when when I descend the two flights of stairs after playing it. Loudly.

Today’s track is another belter, from the album Separation Sunday album. I expect, no demand, that when all you readers play it you get a similar reprimand.

The Hold Steady - Chicago seemed tired last night

And it would be simply perverse not to feature a track from Come On Feel The Illinoise. It’s Jacksonville, which is about the Jacksonville in Illinois and not one of the other twelve Jacksonvilles elsewhere in the USA. And after this you might as well not listen to anything else all day because this song is absolutely fantastic. It is so well, so cleverly, constructed, so well played, so well produced, it takes your breath away.

Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville

325 seconds of sheer brilliance.

And no blues.

CC writes
I can't believe George didn't choose this

The Handsome Family - The Giant of Illinois

or this
Wilco - Via Chicago

Over to Illinois native Brian for other suggestions

See Emily Play

Sorry Floyd fans but it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.
We are off to the Mitchell Theatre tomorrow night  for our second and final Celtic Connections outing to see Dumfries and Galloway native Emily Smith and her New Zealand born fiddle playing husband Jamie McLennan.

Mrs CC and I have been fans ever since picking up a copy of 2001's Traiveller's Joy from the library and yes that is the correct spelling. It will be the first time we have had an opportunity to see her.
She is pretty much in the traditional Folk music camp.
From Traiveller's Joy here is a beautiful cover version of Richard Thompson's Waltzing for Dreamers followed by the more traditional Lord Donald.

Emily Smith - Waltzing For Dreamers

Emily Smith - Lord Donald

Washington Square Serenade

I'm a big fan of Steve Earle. I used to be a huge fan.
I have probably seen him more times than any other artist unless you count the likes of the Felsons or the Radio Sweethearts who used to support pretty much every Americana act who pitched up in Glasgow.

I've all his albums from  his 1986 debut Guitar Town up to 2002's Jerusalem picking  up many of the later ones on the day of release.
I have copies of the other three albums he released in the 2000's but none of those released since.
One of those copied is his 12th studio album 2007's Washington Square Serenade. I gave it a listen the other day and I had clearly forgotten how good an album it was.
It won a Grammy in 2008 for Best Contemporary Folk/American Album, There is pretty much a Grammy for every genre or sub genre.

Steve Earle -Satellite Radio

Steve Earle - City of Immigrants