Loretta Lynn

Sorry to hear that Loretta Lynn's eldest daughter has died. I will post a video of happier times for her. Here is a performance of "Coal Miner's Daughter" from last year's celebration marking her 50 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Leaving Eden

The Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Grand Ole Opry performing "Leaving Eden".

Awake My Soul In Joyful Lays

Ginny Hawker sings "Awake My Soul In Joyful Lays". This song is over 200 years old.

The Man Who Wants You

Amos Lee performing live "The Man Who Wants You" from his forthcoming album Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song out this fall on Blue Note Records.

Happy Birthday Mick

What better way to recognize that today is Mick Jagger's 70th birthday than a video of "Time Is On My Side", a song he ripped off from Irma Thomas almost fifty years ago.  Irma's version of the song is in this post.

All My Tears

Buddy Miller performs "All My Tears"—a song written by his wife, Julie Miller.

Carl, Johnny and Patsy

From 1957, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline perform on the Ranch Party Television show.

The Unclouded Day

Johnny Cash, accompanied by his mother on piano, performs "The Unclouded Day".

Lennon and Maisy

Lennon and Maisy Stella are on the show Nashville, which I have never seen. These girls have amazing harmony. Here they are performing the Stephen Foster song "Hard Times Come Again No More" at the Grand Ole Opry.

Ring Them Bells

Sarah Jarosz performs Bob Dylan's song "Ring Them Bells".

Leon Russell in Concert

I went to see Leon Russell at the Hamilton Live last night. Other than being too loud for the space it was in, it was a great concert. Most of the concert was Rock & Roll with a full band. but Russell did a few solos on keyboards. Part of the encore was "Roll Over Beethoven", which at this previous post you can see him performing almost 50 years ago

Here is a fairly recent performance of "Magic Mirror", which I would say was my favorite song of the night.



He also performed these two songs last night with the band. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Delta Lady"

Allen Toussaint Documentary

From a couple years back, a one hour BBC documentary about Allen Toussaint.

Over in the Gloryland

Some great harmony on an a capella version of "Over in the Gloryland" performed by Run Boy Run.

Judith Hill

Judith Hill is the youngest performer featured in the film Twenty Feet from Stardom. She was scheduled to duet with Michael Jackson on his planned tour, and was in rehearsals with him when he died. Here is a clip of one of the rehearsals for "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".



A performance of "Sweet Dreama" with original Eurythmic Dave Stewart.



The Carol King song "You Got A Friend", and then "Desperation"

Lisa Fischer

Number five from Twenty Feet from Stardom—Lisa Fischer.

Fischer has been the backup singer for the Rolling Stones' concert performances for over twenty years now.  Here she is performing the song Merry Clayton originally recorded, "Gimme Shelter".



"The Look of Love" performed with Chris Botti.



A recent performance of "I Love You Porgy".

Tata Vega

Number four from Twenty Feet from Stardom—Tata Vega.

From 1979, Vega performs "I Just Keep Thinking About You".



"Miss Celies Blues (Sister)" a song Vega originally recorded for the film The Color Purple.



"It's a Man's World" from earlier this year.

Merry Clayton

Number three from Twenty Feet from Stardom—Merry Clayton.

An interview with Clayton where she tells the best story from the film, how she was called out in the middle of the night, pregnant and in curlers, to record what became one of the Rolling Stone's most iconic songs, "Gimme Shelter".



The original "Gimme Shelter" recording with Clayton's vocals.



Clayton performing at a recent show to promote the new movie, the Dylan song "The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Claudia Lennear

The second post of a singer from Twenty Feet from Stardom—Claudia Lennear.

"Let It Be" performed with Leon Russell on piano.



Lennear performed for a time with Ike & Tina Turner. I am not sure if she is included in this line up of the Ikettes, but this is the best Ike & Tina video that I have ever found, so I am including it here anyway.

Darlene Love

I am going to do a series of posts this week focused on women that are featured in the new film Twenty Feet from Stardom. Today we have Darlene Love. The first clip is Love on  Letterman recently discussing the film and her career.



Originally recorded in the early 60's, "A Fine Fine Boy"  performed recently with Bruce Springsteen.



Love performs here with her original group, the Blossoms, and Tom Jones, a 1971 recording of "River Deep, Mountain High".

Trouble Will Soon Be Over

The Black Friday—a group I know nothing about, except that they are from Italy—really kick it on Blind Willie Johnson's "Trouble Will Soon Be Over". Who knew you could get southern gospel blues from Italy, and this is just about as good as the real thing.



This clip has the audio from Johnson's original 1927 recording, although the video is a recent recreation.

Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"

For Fourth of July, a Boston Pops performance of the finale of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" with cannons, church bells and fireworks.

Summertime

It is that time of the year again—"Summertime" performed by Janis Joplin.

Ophelia

I think Amos Lee can cover just about anything.  Here he performs The Band's "Ophelia".



The original is great also, here is Levon Helm singing the song in the 1978 film "The Last Waltz".