Music for People Who Don't Like Music

That's Peter Matthews' description of the Dave Matthews Band:

I'd never seen the Dave Matthews Band before their sold-out show last night at Madison Square Garden, and on paper, it looked promising: electric violinist, brass section, high-energy lead singer. But, the music...just...didn't...go...anywhere. I guess this is what you'd call: music for people who don't like music. Nice stage show, though.

South by Southwest Note

Catching up with my reading over at Feast of Music, I find that Peter Matthews caught a pretty good bit of emcee banter:

"Hey, I have an ID here from someone who goes to Yale. And, here's another from somebody who goes to Cornell. So, hey, all you Ivy Leaguers, stop losing your sh*t."

- Todd P, Ms. Bea's, 11:44 pm.

Playlists: Womenfolk (Apr. 5 & 12, Mar. 29)

So I know it seems like I've been like a slacker, and while that's true in regards to posting stuff here at Sound of Blackbirds, I've been pretty busy everywhere else--playing gigs in and out of town, hosting several house guests, training for a marathon and preparing for my big CD release show.

We're also in the middle of KFAI's Spring Pledge Drive, which means all us DJ's are keeping pretty odd hours. I guested on Pam Hill's morning show this Tuesday, which was, as always, a blast--playing our favorite Richards (Shindell and Thompson). This Sunday on my show, I was joined by fellow KFAI DJ's Pam K (yes, different from Pam Hill!) and Liz Olds!  In addition to playing lots of listener requests and new releases, we talked with Lucy Kaplansky about her show this Friday at the Cedar Cultural Center...If you missed the interview, you can hear the archived show.

In addition to listening to the show any time, you can also pledge to Womenfolk any time by clicking here.  As a special thank-you, I will be sending folks who give at any level a sampler from Red House Records' 25th anniversary box set--an exclusive only available to Womenfolk pledgers!

Thanks for your support of women's music!


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WOMENFOLK (April 12, 2009)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


Iris DeMent / When My Mornin’ Comes Around / The Way I Should / Warner Bros.
The Wailin’ Jennys / Beautiful Dawn / 40 Days / Red House


*Emily Kurn / No Need to Hurry Up / I’m Just Like You / Self
*Annabelle Chvostek / Wait For It / Resilience / Borealis
Nanci Griffith / Anything You Need But Me / Flyer / Elektra


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Rachael Kilgour / Sing Out Together / Rachael Kilgour / Self
Shawn Colvin / I Don't Know Why / Live '88 / Plump
Kate Wolf / Give Yourself to Love / Weaver of Visions / Rhino


Mavis Staples / Eyes on the Prize / We’ll Never Turn Back / Anti
Susan Werner / Help Somebody / Live at Passim / Sleeve Dog Records


The Sacred Shakers / Travellin’ Shoes / The Sacred Shakers / Signature Sounds
Crooked Still / Ain’t No Grave / Shaken By a Low Sound / Signature Sounds


[Behind Twin Cities Women’s Calendar]
*Alison Brown / Rain or Shine / The Company You Keep / Compass
*Jonatha Brooke / Little Bird / The Works / Bad Dog Records
Lucy Kaplansky / Over the Hills / Over the Hills / Red House


[Live Interview with Lucy Kaplansky]


*Lucy Kaplansky / Somebody’s Home / Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective / Red House
*Kate MacKenzie / Past the Point of Rescue / Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective / Red House
*Rosalie Sorrels / Talkin’ Wolverine/ Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of “Utah” Phillips / Red House


Adrienne Young / Art of Virtue / The Art of Virtue / AddieBelle
Ana Egge / Sitting in the Midday Sun / Lazy Days / Grace/Parkinsong


Kris Delmhorst / Bobby Lee / Songs for a Hurricane / Signature Sounds


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WOMENFOLK (April 5, 2009)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


*Rebecca Pronsky / All the Birds / The Best Game in Town / Self
*Neko Case / Magpie to the Morning / Middle Cyclone / Anti


k.d. lang / The Valley / Hymns of the 49th Parallel / Nonesuch
*Edie Carey & Rose Cousins / Veering From the Wave / itsgonnabegreat / Self


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Rachel Kilgour / Bluebird / Rachel Kilgour / Self
*Harbor Collective / California / The Monday EP / Super Solar Records


Natalia Zukerman / Better Me / Brand New Frame / Weasel Records
*Terri Hendrix / Posey Road Stomp / Left Over Alls / Wilory Records
Adrienne Young / Art of Virtue / The Art of Virtue / AddieBelle Music


Patty Loveless / Sounds of Loneliness / Mountain Soul / Epic
Nanci Griffith / Speed of the Sound of Loneliness / Other Voices Other Rooms / Elektra
Jenn Adams / Angel From Montgomery / Water / Self


[Behind Women’s Calendar]
Kit McClure Band / Diggin Dirt / Just the Thing / RedHot Records


[Live in the Studio: Chastity Brown]
Chastity Brown / Bluegrassy Tune
Chastity Brown / Gracy


*Carrie Rodriguez / Rag Doll / She Ain’t Me / Back Portch
*Antje Duvekot / Ragdoll Princes & Junkyard Queens / The Near Demise of the Highwire Dancer / Black Wolf


Pieta Brown / #807 / In the Cool / Valley Entertainment
Lucy Kaplansky / Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go / Over the Hills / Red House
Julie Miller / Too Many Troubles / Respond II / Signature Sounds


Linda Thompson / Dear Mary / Fashionably Late / Rounder


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WOMENFOLK (March 29, 2009)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


Alison Rae / Birds / Alison Rae / Self
Oh Susanna / Pretty Face / Short Stories / Outside Music
*Po’ Girl / Dig Me a Hole / Deer in the Night / Self


Kim Beggs / Up From the River / Wanderer’s Paean / Caribou Records
*Carrie Elkin / Questions About Angels / The Jeopardy of Circumstance / Self


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
Devon Sproule / Old Virginia Block / Keep Your Silver Shined / Waterbug
Rita Hosking / Operator’s Got a Call / Silver Stream / Self


*Lucy Wainwright Roche / Hungry Heart / 8 More / Self
Suzzy Roche / To Alaska With Love / Songs From an Unmarried Housewife and Mother, Greenwich Village, USA / Red House


*Neko Case / This Tornado Loves You / Middle Cyclone / Anti
*Eilen Jewell / Rain Roll In / Sea of Tears / Signature Sounds
*Rosalie Sorrels / He Comes Like Rain / Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips / Red House


[Behind Women’s Calendar]
*Missy Raines / & The New Hip / Duke of Paducah / Inside Out / Compass


*Chastity Brown / New Orleans Groove / Sankofa / Self


[Live Interview with Edie Carey]


Edie Carey / Lonely / Another Kind of Fire / Self
Patty Griffin / Love Throw a Line / Impossible Dream / ATO
Tracy Grammer / Shadows of Evangeline / Flower of Avalon / Signature Sounds


*The Winterpills / Burning Hearts / Central Chambers / Signature Sounds
*Sometimes Why / Aphrodisiaholic / Your Heart Is a Glorious Machine / Signature Sounds

Calling All Ladies

Just wanted to pass on this information about the annual Powerful Women, Powerful Voices songwriting workshop and retreat for women, presented by Eliza Gilkyson, Nerissa & Katryna Nields, Gretchen Peters and Val Denn. It takes place at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires of Western Mass April 26-29. Some day I'll make it out there for this!

Pirate Music Video

Robert Mackey over at The New York Times' The Lede has posted a music video made by the folks at Wired featuring footage shot by Somali pirates aboard a captured ship. He describes the following as "a sort of weird mash-up of a music video, a hostage tape and a home movie."



Indeed.

It's a shortened version of an almost 11-minute hostage video available on the Wired website.

As Mackey writes,

Presumably videos like this will not do much to bolster the case for more sober news coverage of the pirates made by Amy Davidson, who asked on The New Yorker’s News Desk blog last week: “Can we finally agree that the Somali pirates are neither romantic nor funny?”

Tony Trischka, Kenny Kosek and Sean Trischka on WKCR

Tony Trischka, his son Sean and Kenny Kosek just paid us a visit here at WKCR on the Country Music Festival. Here are some photographs!















(Thanks to David from the In All Languages Department for the use of his camera and for taking the better photographs.)

2009 WKCR-FM Country Music Festival Schedule

2009 Country Music Festival
Perspectives In Country Music

Listen at 89.9 FM in the New York City area or at www.wkcr.org anywhere in the world.

Friday, April 10, 2009

12 a.m. to 1 a.m. - Introduction to the Festival

1 a.m. to 6 a.m. - Country Couples

6 a.m. to 11 a.m. - Billy Joe Shaver

11 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Mickey Newbury

6 p.m. to 10 p.m. - Michael Martin Murphey

10 p.m. to 12 a.m. - Outlaw Country Songwriters

Saturday, April 11, 2009

12 a.m. to 1 a.m. - Instrumental Steel Guitar

1 a.m. to 5 a.m. - The Musicians of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys

5 a.m. to 8 a.m. - David Grisman and Jerry Garcia

8 a.m. to 11 a.m. - Geno Delafose

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Tony Trischka (New York Alive Program)

7 p.m. to 12 a.m. - Don Helms

Sunday, April 12, 2009

12 a.m. to 1 a.m. - Don Helms (continued)

1 a.m. to 3 a.m. - Cajun

3 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. - Country Gospel

5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. - George Jones

2:30 to 4 p.m. - Eddy Arnold

4 p.m. to 11 p.m. - Dolly Parton

11 p.m. to 12 a.m. - Hank Williams Request Hour

Schedule Subject to Change

Playlist: The Moonshine Show - 5 April 2009

I listened to today's show from Chicago, Illinois, eating leftover deep-dish for breakfast. Logan Ledger hosted a good one.

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The Moonshine Show - 89.9 WKCR-FM, NYC
Sunday 5 April 2009 - 10 a.m. to Noon
Host: Logan Ledger

Native and Fine - Bill Evans (Native and Fine - Rounder)
Don't Give Your Heart to a Rambler - Tony Rice (Tony Rice - Rounder)
Little Maggie - Little Grasscals (Nashville's Superpickers - Naxos World)
Darlin' Corey - Little Grasscals (Nashville's Superpickers - Naxos World)

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I'll Be There - The Del McCoury Band (Cold Hard Facts - Rounder)
Cabin of Love - David Grisman with Del McCoury (Life of Sorrow - Acoustic Disc)
Lily Hoskins - Ronnie McCoury (Heartbreak Town - Rounder)
Chicken in the Washtub - Jason Carter (On The Move - Rounder)

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Blue Railroad Train - Tony Rice (Manzanita - Rounder)
Ginseng Sullivan - Tony Rice (Manzanita - Rounder)
Home From The Forest - Tony Rice (Manzanita - Rounder)
Ridge Road Gravel - Tony Rice & Norman Blake (Blake & Rice - Rounder)
Little Beggerman/Gilderoy - Tony Rice & Norman Blake (Blake & Rice - Rounder)

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John Deere Tractor - Larry Sparks (40 - Rebel)
Today Has Been A Lonesome Day - Special Consensus (Everything's Alright - Pinecastle)
Back Up And Push - James Alan Shelton (Song For Greta - Rebel)
Road To Columbus - James Alan Shelton (Half Moon Bay - Rebel)
Brown County Breakdown - The Dreadful Snakes (Snakes Alive! - Rounder)

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Down Where The River Bends - Old And In The Way (Breakdown - Acoustic Disc)
Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down - The Greenbriar Boys (Big City Bluegrass - Vanguard)
The Sensitive Waltz - Andy Statman (East Flatbush Blues - Shefa)
Dusty Miller - Bryan Sutton (Not To Far From The Tree - Sugarhill)

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Huffy - Mike Compton & David Grier (Climbing the Walls - Rounder)
Flop Eared Mule - Mike Compton & David Grier (Climbing the Walls - Rounder)
Train Wreck of Emotion - The Del McCoury Band (Don't Stop the Music - Rounder)

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Wolves a-Howling - Bruce Molsky (Lost Boy - Rounder)
Drunken Hiccups - Bruce Molsky (Lost Boy - Rounder)
Let's Go Huntin' - Bruce Molsky (Contented Must Be - Rounder)
Glory in the Meeting House - Bruce Molsky (Contented Must Be - Rounder)
Sail Away Ladies - Brittany Haas (Brittany Haas - Ook)
Bonaparte's Retreat/Yell in the Shouts - Brittany Haas (Brittany Haas - Ook)
June Apple - Brittany Haas (Brittany Haas - Ook)
Don't Cheat in Our Hometown - Keith Whitley & Ricky Skaggs (Second Generation - Rebel)
Dream of the Miner's Child - Whitley & Skaggs (Second Generation - Rebel)

Some Lines on No Line on the Horizon

Sasha Frere-Jones reviews U2's No Line on the Horizon in this week's New Yorker.

He starts by recalling a 2005 concert experience:

[T]he moment the band began to play “City of Blinding Lights,” from “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb[,]” [t]he crowd went berserk.... The audience was going perceptibly more berserk for this particular song. I realized that I was hearing, for the third or fourth time, the evening’s loudest applause for a recent single. ... What other band, three decades into the game, gets its most intense audience reaction with new songs?

I think he overstates the case here a little bit, but I also think that he is spot-on about U2 fans digging into new material and developing new favorites.

His analysis of the new disc is also quite accurate. Overall, he describes it as "wobbly," refers to "Get on Your Boots" as "a sort of adorable blunder," and argues that "[m]any of the missteps on 'No Line' can be attributed to odd choices of lyrics." I think this is all quite true.

He also hits the nail on the head when talking about All That You Can't Leave Behind, saying it "felt like a greatest-hits album before the fact."

His final assessment of No Line on the Horizon?

This album is a long dinner with old friends, all of whom love each other, most of whom are born talkers, and some of whom hold the floor for too long. Not every anecdote holds up, and some of the food belongs, untouched, on the edge of your plate. But it would be small-minded to leave before the whole warm, rambling night is over.

Yum?



(Update: At Ben's urging, there has been some modification of gender pronouns in this post.)

The Bluegrass Intelligencer

Finally, the Weekly World News has a bluegrass equivalent -- I mean, we've all been waiting for this, right? -- The Bluegrass Intelligencer.

Some of the current headlines:

Botched Exorcism Leaves Soul of Bruce Molsky in 13-Year-Old Girl

Red Stick Ramblers Quitting Music to Travel, Cook Full Time

New Mitchell Report on Performance-Enhancing Drugs Names Mountain Heart, Kentucky Thunder

Jim Mills Disappears in African Jungle Hunting Legendary Prewar Banjo

All the news that's fit to print and then some!