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The bit that you skip #243: Tom Petty – Runnin’ Down a Dream
It’s a weird fact that a few decades ago, it seemed that an artist had a halflife of 3 albums (at most) or 6 music videos, if you go for MTV standards. The popularization of synths, which led to home producing a decade after, pushed many bands from the 70s to other territories. The Cure…
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The bit that you skip #242: Wanda Jackson – Funnel of Love
“Women don’t sell records” is the infamous phrase thrown at Wanda Jackson in the late 50s. That probably sparked her furious energy that spilled into a long career in music. With both wings firmly clasping blues, rock, and country, Wanda Jackson’s vocals are protopunk. Sure, the country standards and duets in the beginning were more…
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The bit that you skip #241 – Ashley McBryde – Rattlesnake Preacher
A couple of years ago, I sat down and made a couple of playlists. One was for country music that reminded me of my childhood and family trips. The second one was for the country music I’ve discovered through my life, old and new, from the underrated to the overproduced. While yesterday’s post referred to…
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The bit that you skip #239: Patsy Cline – Sweet Dreams (of you)
An unreleased track by the time of Cline’s tragic passing, Sweet Dreams (of you) was a further exploration of a pop-friendly side of Patsy Cline. Originally a Don Gibson track, Sweet Dreams (of you) became a country standard, both by the strength of the song and its association with Cline. There are artists that always…
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The bit that you skip #238: Juice Newton – Country Comfort
For some strange reason, I correlate country and the 70s as a single entity. Disco, punk, and AOR are surely a better reference for everyone, but in my case, I can’t see that decade as anything other than country. John Denver, Kenny Rogers, DollyParton, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty. Just a few…
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The bit that you skip #237: Dolly Parton – 9 to 5
EDIT: Terrible timing for this post, as I just heard the news. Thanks for all the music and my family memories, Ms. Parton. As a kid, I always thought that Parton’s song (and movie) 9 to 5 inspired the mexican comedy Mi Secretaria. The premises were similar, as were some of the jokes. Perhaps both…
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The bit that you skip #236: Loretta Lynn – Portland Oregon
2004 was a year of unexpected comebacks. William Shatner and Ben Folds joined forces and created Has Been, a stupendous, funny, and heartbreaking effort by a man who had been ridiculed by an unfortunate performance of Rocket Man. Has Been was redemption for Captain Kirk and another hit for Ben Folds. Jack White, red hot…
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The bit that you skip #235: Don Henley – The Boys of Summer
My writing is cyclical. There are years where I can write daily, and quite a bit too. Other years, the well runs dry. Sometimes I go back and edit all the dross I create, others, I simply can’t muster enough courage to read what I write. Once I finished a second novel for a Nanowrimo,…
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The bit that you skip #234: Glenn Frey – You Belong to the City
When I was a kid and heard on TV shows about “nights out”, I always imagined something like the video for Glenn Frey’s You Belong to the City. Busy streets, marquees with incandescent bulbs following patterns, arcades, and stores ready to close and crawl back home, backs broken from working all day. So when I…
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