Annie Lennox Christmas

It is a little early for Christmas posts, but Annie Lennox has released a great Christmas album called A Christmas Cornucopia, so I am doing a post on it.

Also on her web site is an Annie Lennox advent calendar, promising a new unlocked window every day from December 1 through Christmas.

Here is a video about the album.



"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"



Most of the album is traditional songs, but there is this new Lennox compostion, "Universal Child"

Jackson & Memphis

I saw two musicals on Broadway last weekend

Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson is a non-traditional musical about the seventh President of the United States. Jackson—from Tenneessee— was the first President who was not from either the Virginia or Massachusetts aristocracy. He attained the Presidency on a tide of populism, and resentment against the eastern elite. Once he gained the Presidency he instituted a brutal policy of Indian removal to force all tribes west of the Mississippi, despite the fact that some of the tribes had agreements with the U.S. government guaranteeing them their land.

The show, despite it's rather bleak subject matter, is very funny. In fact, it almost turns the story into a farce. The music is mostly rock, but I don't think the kind of music you would listen to outside the context of the show. It was very intelligently written, and dealt with a lot of the same issues that come up in U.S. politics today. The performances in the show were very good, especially Benjamin Walker, who plays Andrew Jackson.



Memphis is a more traditional Broadway show, with big songs and dance numbers. The music is not traditional show tunes, but blues. gospel and rock and roll. The story is set in Memphis in the 1950's and deals with the birth of Rock and Roll, and relations between the races. The talent in the cast is very deep, including great performances by the leads, Montego Glover and Chad Kimball. The music for the show was writen by David Bryan, the keyboard player for the band Bon Jovi.

Here is a performance from the Tony Awards, where it won best musical.

Shemekia Copeland

I said in my last post that Johnny Copeland left a lot of great music. He also left a daughter with a powerful voice. I've seen Shemekia Copeland perform live a couple times, and she puts on an incredible show. Here is some video of her.

"Beat Up Old Guitar"



"Ghetto Child", she dedicates this song to her father. I believe he wrote this one.



""I Was Born a Penny", I believe that Shemekia wrote this one.

Johnny Copeland

Johnny "Clyde" Copeland performed in one of the Stevie Ray Vaughan videos on my last post. Here are a couple videos of him. Copeland died at the relatively young age of 60 from heart disease, but he left a lot of good music.

"Honky Tonkin' "



"Cut Off My Right Arm"



A rare performance with acoustic guitar.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Twenty years after his death in an airplane crash, Stevie Ray Vaughan is probably still one of the most influential guitar players of all time. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000, and will hopefully be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the near future.

All three videos below are songs off of the album Soul to Soul, which may have the distinction of being the only album that I ever purchased as an LP, a Cassette, a CD, and from iTunes. I am not 100% sure that I had the Cassette version, but I am pretty sure that I did.

"Look at Little Sister" performed with Johnny "Clyde" Copeland.

"Change It" "Lookin' Out the Window"

Neil Young

A post to recognize that today is Neil Young's 65th Birthday. A couple videos from 1971, and one from the 1985 Farm Aid Concert.

"Heart of Gold"



"Old Man"



"My My Hey Hey"





If you like this, try these previous posts:

Farm Aid 1985 - September 22, 2010

Lizz Wright - April 14, 2010

John Prine - Pt. 2 - June 9, 2010

The Dark End of the Street

The last song on my last post was Marti Jones and Don Dixon's performance of The Dark End of the Street. This is such a great song that I have decided to do an entire post with covers of it.

Written in 1966 by Dan Penn and Chips Moman, this is the first recording, which was done by James Carr.



Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner



Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Brother



Eva Cassidy

Marti Jones & Don Dixon

Marti Jones had a more active musical career back in the 80's. I think recently she have focused more on her painting, including a whole series on Grey Gardens. But she has been doing some concerts recently. Here are some videos of her performing with her husband Don Dixon.

"Follow You All Over the World"



"Any Kind of Lie"



"Dark End of the Street"