zondag 22 augustus 2010

Little Feat in Paradiso (august 2010)

Great, great, great.
They were again in Paradiso on August 20, 2010.
.
Ï've seen so many times but it is still the band with the fantastic Soudern Blues.

Adain Dixie Chicken was the peak of the concert. They also performed other songs from their fantastic CD from 1973. One of the best ever made.

Mary Gauther


Mary Gauthier, born March 11, 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana At age 15, she stole her parents' car and ran away from home, and spent the next several years in drug rehabilitation, halfway houses, and living with friends; she spent her 18th birthday in a police cell.[2] Struggling to deal with being adopted and her sexuality, she used drugs and alcohol.[2] These experiences provided fodder for her songwriting later on. Spurred on by friends, she enrolled at Louisiana State University as a philosophy major, dropping out during her senior year. After attending the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she opened a Cajun restaurant in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, Dixie Kitchen (also the eponymous title of her first album).[3] Mary ran, and cooked at, the restaurant for eleven years. After achieving sobriety, she was driven to dedicate herself full-time to songwriting, and embarked upon a career in music. She wrote her first song at age 35.[4]Mary Gauthier 2010

zondag 15 augustus 2010

Jawhawks - waiting for a new CD

From: http://www.allmusic.com/
Led by the gifted songwriting, impeccable playing, and honeyed harmonies of vocalists/guitarists Mark Olson and Gary Louris, the Jayhawks' shimmering blend of country, folk, and bar band rock made them one of the most widely acclaimed artists to emerge from the alternative country scene. The group sprang up in 1985 out of the fertile musical community of Minneapolis, MN, where Olson had been playing standup bass in a rockabilly band called Stagger Lee. His desire to write and perform his own country-folk material soon prompted him to begin a solo career, which he launched after enlisting Marc Perlman, the guitarist for a local band called the Neglecters, to become Olson's bassist. After the addition of drummer Norm Rogers, the group began booking shows, playing its first gig in front of a small crowd of less than a dozen people. One of those patrons, however, was Gary Louris, a veteran of the local bands Safety Last and Schnauzer. He and Olson began talking after the show; by the end of the evening, Louris -- who was famed locally for his innovative, pedal steel-like guitar sound -- had become a member of the group, which eventually adopted the name the Jayhawks.




Drawing on influences like Gram Parsons, the Louvin Brothers, Tim Hardin, and Nashville Skyline-era Bob Dylan, the Jayhawks quickly became a local favorite, honing their sound in Twin Cities clubs before releasing their eponymous debut in 1986. Issued in a pressing of just a few thousand copies, the album was well received by those who heard it; a major recording deal did not follow, however, so the bandmembers continued to polish their craft live, with more and more of their songs bearing writing credits belonging to both Olson and Louris. In October 1988, after a lineup change that saw the departure of Rogers (who joined the Cows) followed by the addition of drummer Thad Spencer, Louris was nearly killed in an auto accident, and the Jayhawks went on hiatus. At much the same time, however, executives at the Minneapolis independent label Twin/Tone decided to issue the demos the group had been stockpiling over the past few years, and after some overdubbing and remixing, Blue Earth appeared in 1989. Richer in sound and more complex in its themes and concerns, the record's release brought the group considerable attention, and also brought Louris back into the fold. After another drummer switch (Spencer for Ken Callahan), the band hit the road for a national tour.



The Jayhawks were signed to major label American Records after producer George Drakoulias heard The Blue Earth playing in the background during a phone call to Twin/Tone's offices. With Drakoulias in the producer's seat, the band recorded its breakthrough album, Hollywood Town Hall, in 1991; a mainstay of critics' annual "best-of" lists, the album generated the alternative radio hits "Waiting for the Sun," "Take Me with You (When You Go)," and "Settled Down Like Rain." After a tour that saw the permanent addition of Minneapolis pianist Karen Grotberg, the individual bandmembers guested on albums from Counting Crows, Soul Asylum, Maria McKee, Joe Henry, and others. Before recording the fourth Jayhawks album, Callahan departed, and was replaced by session drummer Don Heffington. The resulting record, 1995's Tomorrow the Green Grass, is a beautiful collection of songs led off by the elegiac single "Blue," the recipient of significant airplay. A tour followed, but after some months on the road, Olson announced he was quitting the band.



In 1997, the Jayhawks -- now consisting of Louris, Perlman, Grotberg, and drummer Tim O'Reagan -- released the album Sound of Lies. Grotberg left the band in early 2000, and was replaced by ex-DAG keyboardist Jen Gunderman for the band's sixth album, Smile. A move to a new label (Lost Highway) in 2002 brought about more changes in the band's ever evolving lineup, leaving Louris, Perlman, and O'Reagan (assisted by newcomer Stephen McCarthy on guitar) to craft 2003's rootsier Rainy Day Music. After that, the band ceased operating under the moniker, though Olson and Louris toured together in 2005 and 2006 billed as "From the Jayhawks: An Evening with Mark Olson and Gary Louris, Together Again," eventually releasing an album together in 2009 called Ready for the Flood. That same year, the band released Music from the North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology. In 2010 the band reissued its 1986 Bunkhouse Album on Lost Highway Records.

Top instrimentals songs ever made

My top instrimentals ever made:
  1. Dark Magic - Moby Grape (Moby Grape Live 2010)
  2. Mountain Jam - Allman Brothers Band (Eat a Peach 1972)
  3. ...Quick Silver Messager

Peter Lewis, one of the fouding members of Moby Grape

I just ordered the CD Peter Lewis of Peter Lewis, one of the fouding members of Moby Grape.

From the nonofficial Myspace site of Peter Lewis.
One of the founding members of Moby Grape, Peter Lewis is undoubtedly one of the most underrated musicians and contributors to come out of the 1960's rock revolution. Lewis was born into a show business family, and is the son of a renowned actress, the late Loretta Young. While in high school, Lewis played guitar and sang in a pop/..rock band called The Cornells and also rubbed elbows with Ricky Nelson, among others. After attending military school and a brief stint in the Air Force, Lewis was, for a short time, a commercial pilot for Shell Oil. After seeing an early appearance by The Byrds, Lewis was inspired enough to make music his primary focus. "I would have stayed a pilot too if it wasn't for the Byrds. It was at the Long Beach Arena where I went with my girlfriend to see the Rolling Stones that it happened. Being in the pilot's program had completely absorbed me, and I had spent the last two years doing nothing but flying, or studying about flying. Music had been put in the background. It had no pull on me, because in my isolated situation, I still thought the music scene in America was pretty lame. That all changed when the opening band stepped on stage that night at the Stones concert. Of course, it was the Byrds." It was during this period that Lewis began to develop what was to become his signature fingerpicking guitar style. Although galvanized by Roger McGuinn's playing, Lewis chose to explore the style on the six-string electric, and this set him apart from many other guitarists at the time who were merely imitating McGuinn, utilizing 12-string Rickenbackers. For over a year, Lewis and his new band, Peter And The Wolves played up and down the West Coast. Sometime in 1966, Lewis began playing with another underestimated musical genius, Joel Scott Hill, and through him, Lewis met bassist/vocalist Bob Mosley and the Moby Grape odyssey began. Lewis' contributions to the band were great and many. Aside from furnishing the band with some of their best and most accessible rockers such as "Fall On You" and "Goin' Down To Texas" , he also had an introspective, psychologically probing and psychedelic ballad style, and this is where his originality and talent truly shine. This is best represented on songs such as "He", "That Lost Horizon", "Horse Out In The Rain" and "Sittin' By The Window" (which be reprised brilliantly on his 1995 self-titled solo album). He also penned the profound "Changes, Circles Spinning", which can be seen as an ode to the end of the 1960's, and was part of Joan Baez' late 60's live repertoire.Between brief Moby Grape reunions in the 70's, Lewis and another Grape co-founder, the late Skip Spence, were instrumental in helping assemble The Doobie Brothers, as well as assisting in getting them signed to Warner Bros. Records. Lewis was rumored to have an offer to join the band early on with Spence, but when his former band mate decided not to pursue this, Lewis declined as well. In 1995, he released his only solo album to date, Peter Lewis, on the German-based Taxim Records label. Produced by former Doobies guitarist John McFee, the record is a penetrating example of Lewis' unique talent, as well as his musical growth. He has spent the last few years recording tracks for a follow up album, and still sporadically performs live as a solo artist and occasionally with some of the surviving members of Moby Grape. At his solo shows, as if to bring things full circle, he often performs a brilliant version of Gene Clark's "Set You Free This Time", which was originally on The Byrds Turn, Turn, Turn album. ~ Matthew Greenwald




Meer lezen: http://www.myspace.com/mobygrapespeterlewis#ixzz0wfL3m6x4


zaterdag 14 augustus 2010

Richie Hayward of Little Feat dies

Richie Hayward, the drummer and a founding member of Little Feat, a celebrated rock band that arrived on the music scene in Los Angeles with its distinctively eclectic sound in the early 1970s, has died. He was 64.
Hayward, who had liver cancer, died Thursday of complications from pneumonia in a hospital near Vancouver, Canada, said Bridget Nolan, a publicist for the band.
"He was a great drummer, and he was very much integral to Little Feat's sound," singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who first met Hayward about 40 years ago, told the Los Angeles Times on Friday. "It's hard to imagine another drummer making that music because it's very inventive."

Formed in 1969 _ its original members including singer-songwriter and guitarist Lowell George, keyboardist Bill Payne, bassist Roy Estrada and Hayward _ Little Feat became known for its mix of rock, country, blues, folk, jazz and funk.

The band's self-titled 1971 debut album featured songs such as "Strawberry Flats," "Willin'," and "Hamburger Midnight."
"Through its first five albums, Little Feat has been thought of as a cult band, as influential musicians' musicians and as one of Warner Bros. Records' 'prestige acts,'" Richard Cromelin, former Times pop music writer, wrote in 1977. "Critical praise has been lavish, particularly in England where the L.A.-based band is regularly hailed as the premier American group of the decade and major rock stars like Elton John proclaim its brilliance."
And yet, Cromelin wrote, "the cash registers have been excruciatingly silent.
The band, whose "Dixie Chicken" was one of their best-known songs, broke up after George died of a heart attack at age 34 while on a solo tour in 1979. But the band reunited in 1988.

"I never thought we'd get back together," Hayward told the Intelligence Journal, a Lancaster, Pa., newspaper in 2004. "Everyone had gone their separate ways. It seemed like everybody was going to continue doing that. We were all doing OK, but we weren't doing our own thing like we are now, which is much better. It's what we all kind of secretly wanted."
Hayward's "deep, funky groove and vibrant rock 'n' roll energy" _ as an online obituary in Modern Drummer put it _ led to his playing drums on numerous recording sessions and live performances with artists such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Robert Palmer, Robert Plant and Bob Seger
Born Feb. 6, 1946, in Clear Lake, Iowa, Hayward began playing drums as a child and moved to California at 19 in 1964. Two years later, he read an ad in the L.A. Free Press that said, "Drummer Wanted _ Must Be Freaky" and joined George's band called the Factory.
Hayward also played briefly with the Fraternity of Man before joining Little Feat.
"My style has grown with the band," he said in a 1995 interview with Modern Drummer. "It started out heavily influenced by blues, rock 'n' roll, and jazz. Then it got more specific as I got into other kinds of American folk music and other roots music.
"I discovered New Orleans along the way, and that made a big difference _ it loosened me up."
A year ago, Hayward announced that he had been diagnosed with liver disease. His last public performance was July 11, when he sat in with Little Feat at the Vancouver Island Music Fest.

"He's really been a beacon to a whole generation of younger drummers," said Browne, who performed with other musicians at one of the benefit concerts held to help pay for Hayward's medical bills. "He was really loved; he will be missed."

Hayward's survivors include his wife, Shauna; and a son, Severin.

 Copyright (c) Los Angeles Times

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Richie+Hayward+drummer+founder+Little+Feat+dies+Vancouver/3397233/story.html#ixzz0waYuFkpl