General Comments for all Naweedna CDs

Will Moyle’s Jazz Alive, a locally produced master collection of classic jazz. The Will Moyle stuff is the best collection of jazz I’ve ever heard. Originally recorded by me in the 80s.

FFUSA: Folk Festival USA, a nationally distributed collection of excerpts recorded live at various folk festivals around the country – varying from traditional country to purely ethnic, to socio-political (one lesbian festival, in fact). FFUSA is eclectic, and the live recordings often catch a lot of crowd noise as well as bad microphone placement. Originally recorded by me in the 80s.

GTWG: The Glory That Was Grease, another locally produced broadcast that featured the formative years of Rock and Roll from the 50s and 60s – my youth. The “Grease” may have been “Greece”, the Rochester suburb where the program originated. The GTWG is marginal but good for reminding my generation of their teenage years – if that can be considered a good thing. Originally recorded by me in the 80s.

BBGR: Big Band Go Round, yet another local program featuring … Big Band, but also including most anything recorded from 20s to the 50s. The BBGR is so broad that it is unlikely to be duplicated anywhere. However, you have to have a fondness for the crackle of scratchy old 78’s and an appetite for schmaltz to fully appreciate it. Originally recorded by me in the 80s.

PHC & PHC-D: Prairie Home Companion – the middle years. I didn’t get started with PHC until the 80s, so I missed the early period, and I stopped recording when Garrison retired – for the first time. Remember the unfortunate guy who took over the time slot from Garrison? Me, neither. AS IF anyone could do that – a classic no-win situation. When Garrison un-retired (like Michael Jordan), the second version of the show was based in NYC, and I didn’t care for it that much, so I didn’t record it. A few years later I discovered that he had gone back to the old format and was broadcasting from St Paul, MN. I’ve been digitizing those programs in real time over the last couple years, and they are designated as PHC-D. The PHC stuff contains the essence of American music – in my not-so-humble opinion. The only nationally broadcast show that ever came close to matching PHC for quality and variety was the TV show, Northern Exposure – go figure. I have two Northern CDs; if there are more, I would like to know about them ASAP.

The dates represent the release date of the album or CD source. These dates are as accurate as I can obtain. The dates for some tracks from compilations reflect the release date of the compilation.

As usual, my comments are in blue. The other information comes from www.allmusic.com. Additions and corrections are welcome … encouraged, in fact.

A1 Hello Love - Hank SnowDownload (1974)

Hello Love used to be the opening song on PHC. This is Hank Snow version that inspired Garrison’s version.

Canada's greatest contribution to country music, Hank Snow was famous for his "traveling" songs. It's no wonder. At age 12 he ran away from his Nova Scotia home and joined the Merchant Marines, working as a cabin boy and laborer for four years. Once back on shore, he listened to Jimmie Rodgers records and started playing in public, building up a following in Halifax. His original nickname, the Yodeling Ranger, was modified to the Singing Ranger when his high voice changed to the great baritone that graced his hit records. In 1950, the year he became an Opry regular, his self-penned "I'm Moving On" (the first of his many great traveling songs) became a smash hit, reaching number one and remaining their for 21 weeks. "Golden Rocket" (also 1950) and "I've Been Everywhere" (1962), two other hits, show his life-long love for trains and travel. But he was as much at home with two other styles, the ballad and the rhumba/boogie. Among his many great ballads are "Bluebird Island" (with Anita Carter, of the Carter Family), "Fool Such as I," and "Hello, Love" a hit when Snow was 60 years old. Snow appeared regularly on the Opry into the '90s, proving that his incredible voice suffered no loss of quality over the last half-century, as well as what a tasteful, understated guitar stylist he is. With small stature and huge voice, Snow was a country traditionalist who gave much more to the business than he took.Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Hank Snow (born Clarence Eugene Snow) moved in with his grandmother when he was eight years old, following the divorce of his parents. Four years later, he re-joined his mother when she re-married, but his stepfather was an abusive, violent man who frequently beat Hank. Tired of the abuse, Snow ran away from home when he was 12 years old, joining a fishing boat. For the next four years, he served as a cabin boy, often singing for the sailors onboard. When he was 16, he returned home, where he began working odd jobs and trying to launch a performing career. His mother had given him a stack of Jimmie Rodgers records which inspired him greatly. Within a few weeks of hearing Rodgers, Snow ordered a cheap, mail-order guitar and tried to learn his idol's trademark blue yodel. For the next few years, he sang around Nova Scotia befrore finally mustering the courage to travel to Halifax in 1933. Snow landed a weekly unpaid appearance on CHNS' Down on the Farm, where he was billed as both the cowboy Blue Yodeller and Clarence Snow and His Guitar. The following year, CHNS' chief announcer Cecil Landry suggested to Snow that he should change his name to Hank, since it sounded more Western.

Hank continued to perform in Halifax for the next three years, often struggling to get by. The severity of the financial situation was compounded when he married Minnie Aaiders in 1936, but the couple was soon relieved

when he landed a regular paid program on the network Canadian Farm Hour, billed as Hank the Yodeling Ranger. By the end of the year, Snow had signed a deal with RCA-Victor's Montreal branch and recorded two original songs: "The Prsoned Cowboy" and "Lonesome Blue Yodel." The songs were hits, beginning a string of Canadian-only hit singles that ran for the next ten years; during that time, he recorded nearly 90 songs. In the early '40s, he had a regular show on CBC, based in Montreal and New Brunswick. In 1944, he switched to CKCW in New Brunswick. Around that time, he switched his stage name to Hank the Singing Ranger, since his voice had deepened and he could no longer yodel.

Though he had become a star in Canada, the American market remained untapped. Snow tried to break into the USA several times, playing The Wheeling Jamboree in West Virginia, briefly moving to Hollywood and performing concerts with his trick pony Shawnee, but he was having no luck finding fans. The problem partially lies with the fact that he was trying to find an audience that wasn't there, since most citizens were concentrating on World War II. Another stumbling block was RCA Records themselves, who refused to let Hank release records in America until he was well-known in the country. By 1948, Snow was singing on The Big D Jamboree in Dallas, Texas, where he befriended the honky tonk legend Ernest Tubb. ET pulled enough weight at the Grand Ole Opry to get Hank a slot on the in early 1950, and by that time, RCA had agreed to record Snow for the American audience.

Hank Snow's American debut single "Marriage Vow" became a minor hit at the end of 1949, but it fell off the charts after a week. Similarly, his debut appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in January was not well-received, prompting Hank to consider moving back to Canada. However, those ideas were soon abandoned when his breakthrough arrived in the summer of 1950. That July, "I'm Moving On" began its remarkable ascent up the charts, eventually landing at number one and staying there for a full 21 weeks. In the year after the release of "I'm Moving On," "The Golden Rocket" and "The Rhumba Boogie" both hit number one (the latter staying there for eight weeks), establishing Hank Snow as a genuine star. Between 1951 and the end of 1955, Snow had a remarkable 24 Top Ten hits, including the massive hit single "I Don't Hurt Anymore" which spent 20 weeks at number one in 1954. Snow not only played his trademark traveling songs, but also country-boogie, Hawaiian music, rhumbas, and cowboys songs. By the middle of the decade, he was a star not only in the United States and Canada, but throughout the world, gaining a particularly strong following over the years in the United Kingdom.

Around 1954, Snow formed a booking agency with Colonel Tom Parker, who would later become infamous for being Elvis Presley's manager. Indeed, Hank played a formative role in Presley's early career, convincing the Grand Ole Opry to give the singer a chance in 1954. Though Elvis' appearance at the Opry was ill-received, Snow continued to push Presley to move towards country and Hank was quite upset when Parker took complete control of Elvis' management around 1955. Still, Hank found a way to combat rock & roll - he recorded some light rockabilly singles himself. "Hula Rock" and "Rockin', Rollin' Ocean" were attempts to capture the beat of rock & roll, but diluted with the rhumbas and boogie that made his singles hits during the early '50s. Though he was experimenting with the new genre, he hadn't abandoned country and he continued to regularly chart in the country Top Ten until 1965 with hits like "Big Wheels" (#7, 1958), "Miller's Cave" (#9, 1960), "Beggar to a King (#5, 1961), "I've Been Everywhere (#1, 1962), and "Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)" (#2, 1963).

During the latter half of the '60s, Snow's career slowed down considerably, as he wasn't able to make the transition to the new, heavily orchestrated country-pop sounds, nor was he able to keep pace with the twangy roll of Bakersfield. Instead, his singles placed in the lower reaches of the charts, while his concerts and Grand Ole Opry appearances continued to be quite popular. It wasn't until 1974 that another monster hit arrived in the form of "Hello Love," which unexpectedly climbed to number one. Instead of sparking a revival, "Hello Love" proved to be a last gasp; between its release in 1974 and 1980, Hank had only two other Top 40 hits, which both arrived the same year as "Hello Love." Despite his declining record sales, his profile remained high through his concerts and several lifetime-achievement awards, including his induction to the Nashville Songwriters International Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979.

In 1981, Hank Snow's recording career ended when RCA dropped him after a 45-year relationship. Snow was very upset with the label's treatment of him, as well as the direction that country music was taking, claiming that "80% of today's country music is a joke and not fit to listen to." He was equally angry that country's roots were being diluted by pop and rock production values. Though he never recorded again, Snow remained active in the Grand Ole Opry into the '90s, and he spent a lot of time working for his Foundation for Child Abuse. In the late '80s, Bear Family began a lengthy retrospective of several multi-disc box sets that chronicled his entire recording career. In 1994, Snow published his autobiography, The Hank Snow Story. Late the following year, he was stricken with a respiratory illness, yet he recovered in 1996, returning to the Grand Ole Opry in August of that year. Snow died December 20, 1999 at the age of 85. - David Vinopal

A2 Railroad Man - Larry JohnsonDownload (unknown date)

I have an old Larry Johnson vinyl that I like very much (on Naweedna 2001), so I downloaded some more. This is by far the best of the newer stuff.

Among the post-war generation of blues artists, Larry Johnson - from Riceville, Georgia - is one of the most devoted to the pure Delta and Texas styles of the '20s. An excellent picker and singer, he has albums out on a variety of labels including Biograph and Spivey. - Richard Meyer

A3 Hold'em Hootie - Jay McShannBlues from Kansas City (1942)

Does this sound like 40s stuff? Not to me. I like almost all of McShann’s tracks I have. I first heard him on Will Moyle’s Jazz Alive program. The CD listed below looks like the best one, if you’re only having one ;-)

The great veteran pianist Jay McShann (also known as Hootie) has had a long career and it is unfair to primarily think of him as merely the leader of an orchestra that featured a young Charlie Parker. He was mostly self-taught as a pianist, worked with Don Byas as early as 1931 and played throughout the Midwest before settling in Kansas City in 1936. McShann formed his own sextet the following year and by 1939 had his own big band. In 1940 at a radio station in Wichita, KS, McShann and an octet out of his orchestra recorded eight songs that were not released commercially until the 1970s; those rank among the earliest of all Charlie Parker records (he is brilliant on "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Lady Be Good") and also feature the strong rhythm-section team McShann had with bassist Gene Ramey and drummer Gus Johnson. The full orchestra recorded for Decca on two occasions during 1941-42 but they were typecast as a blues band and did not get to record many of their more challenging charts (although very rare broadcasts have since surfaced and been released on CD by Vintage Jazz Classics). In addition to Bird (who had a few short solos), the main stars were trumpeter Bernard Anderson, the rhythm section and singer Walter Brown. McShann and his band arrived in New York in February 1942 and made a strong impression but World War II made it difficult for any new orchestras to catch on. There was a final session in December 1943 without Parker but McShann was soon drafted and the band broke up. After being discharged later in 1944, McShann briefly reformed his group but soon moved to Los Angeles where he led combos for the next few years; his main attraction was the young singer Jimmy Witherspoon.McShann was in obscurity for the next two decades, making few records and mostly playing in Kansas City. In 1969 he was rediscovered and McShann (who had first sung on records in 1966) was soon a popular pianist/vocalist. Sometimes featuring violinist Claude Williams, he has toured constantly, recorded frequently and appeared at many jazz festivals since then, being active into the mid-'90s. Jay McShann, who has recorded through the years for Onyx (the 1940 radio transcriptions), Decca, Capitol, Aladdin, Mercury, Black Lion, EmArcy, Vee Jay, Black & Blue, Master Jazz, Sackville, Sonet, Storyville, Atlantic, Swingtime and Music Masters among others, is a vital pianist and an effective blues vocalist who keeps a classic style alive.

Blues from Kansas City Artist Jay McShann Album Title Blues from Kansas City Date of Release Apr 30, 1941 - Dec 1, 1942 AMG Rating 5 * checkedGenre Jazz Type compilation Time 60:10 This CD surpasses all former collections of pianist Jay McShann's early recordings, for it is comprised of every commercial side made by McShann during 1941-1943, including 11 delightful, if rarely heard, trio and quartet numbers (featuring McShann, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Gus Johnson), along with four lesser-known vocals by the limited but talented Walter Brown that are normally skipped. The result is as complete a musical picture of Jay McShann's early piano style and his orchestra (at least how they sounded in the studios) as is possible. Altoist Charlie Parker has five influential if brief solos (best is "Sepian Bounce") and trumpeters Orville Minor and Buddy Anderson, altoist John Jackson, and Paul Quinichette on tenor also have their spots. However, McShann is clearly the main star of this definitive set by the last of the great Kansas City swing big bands. Highly recommended. — Scott Yanow 1. Swingmatism performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:36 2. Hootie Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:53 3. Dexter Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:53 4. Vine Street Boogie performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:34 5. Confessin' the Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:50 6. Hold 'Em Hootie performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:37 7. One Woman's Man performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:01 8. 'fore Day Rider performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:53 9. So You Won't Jump performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:36 10. New Confessin' the Blues [#] performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:02 11. Red River Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:53 12. Baby Heart Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:44 13. Cryin' Won't Make Me Stay performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:29 14. Hootie's Ignorant Oil performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:41 (future Naweedna selection) 15. Lonely Boy Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:54 16. Get Me on Your Mind performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:01 17. The Jumpin' Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 2:59

18. Sepian Bounce performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:06 19. Say Forward, I'll March performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:06 20. Wrong Neighborhood performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:18 21. Hometown Blues performed by Jay McShann Orchestra - 3:04

A4 Look-A-Here - Ramsey LewisThe Choice! (1965)

Okay, I love Ramsey Lewis. I have several old vinyls and this track comes from one of them. There will be more Ramsey in future Naweedna CDs. Some of you intermediate aged people may remember The In Crowd and the Young Holt Unlimited. The Ramsey Lewis Trio, always referred to in my time as RLT, was composed of Ramsey Lewis, Eldee Young and Red Holt. Therein lies the connection. Ramsey plays in the style I learned to call “funk” back in the sixties.

Ramsey Lewis has long straddled the boundary between bop-oriented jazz and pop music. Most of his recordings (particularly by the mid-'60s) were very accessible and attracted a large non-jazz audience. In 1956, he formed a trio with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt. From the start (1958), their records for Argo/Cadet were popular, although in the early days, they had a strong jazz content. In 1958, Lewis also recorded with Max Roach and Lem Winchester. On the 1965 albums The In Crowd and Hang On, Ramsey made the pianist into a major attraction and from that point, on his records became much more predictable and pop-oriented. In 1966, his trio's personnel changed with bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Maurice White (later the founder of Earth, Wind & Fire) joining Lewis. In the 1970s, Lewis often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and hiring an additional keyboardist. He can still play melodic jazz when he wants to, but Ramsey Lewis has mostly stuck to easy listening pop music during the past 30 years.

The Choice! The Best of the Ramsey Lewis Trio Artist Ramsey Lewis Album Title Choice! The Best of the Ramsey Lewis Trio Date of Release 1965 AMG Rating 4.5 *Genre Jazz AMG REVIEW: Before assaulting the R&B and pop charts with "The in Crowd," the Ramsey Lewis Trio recorded exemplary swinging club jazz. This 1965 package came out in the same year that "The in Crowd" exploded and represents the Ramsey Lewis Trio's most popular recordings prior to their emergence. There's more improvising and the arrangements are intricate enough to display each member's chops. The selections revisit the trio's debut, Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Swing (Argo, 1956), with "Carmen." The Ramsey Lewis Trio recorded for three labels under Chess' umbrella: Argo, Cadet, and Chess. A good LP if you can find a copy; it represents their early years well. — Andrew Hamilton 1. Something You Got (future Naweedna selection) 2. Little Liza Jane 3. Memphis in June 4. Travel On 5. Delilah (Young) 6. C. C. Rider 7. Lonely Avenue (Pomus) (future Naweedna selection) 8. Look-a-Here 9. My Bucket's Got a Hole in It 10. Hello, Cello 11. Blue Spring 12. Carmen 13. Blues for the Night Owls

A5 Blue Shadows On The Trail - Sean Blackman & Dakota Dave HullRiver of Swing (1988)

I can’t find much about Dakota Dave Hull or Sean Blackman. Sean has been an occasional performer on PHC. I think I first learned about them from Rich Kilbury back in the early 80s. Whatever, I like the music, and there will likely be additional tracks on future Naweedna compilations. Oh, there is a real PHC connection with this album. Here are some of the familiar side men: Butch Thompson, Peter Ostroushko, Bill Evans, Prudence Johnson, and Tommy Lieberman.

River of Swing Artist Dakota Dave Hull w/ Blackburn Album Title River of Swing Date of Release 1988 (release) AMG Rating 3 *Genre Country

Deep WaterMississippi ShoreMoneyWhat’s the UseI Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire (future Naweedna selection)The Wicked Wind of FargoRiver of SongBlue Shadows On The TrailSearchin’ The Desert For The BluesAnnie’s Waltz (future Naweedna selection)Rollin’ Along

A6 Can't Get My Ass In Gear - Coco MontoyaRoad Trip Blues (2000)

We got this CD and one called Superharps from WXXI. This track and Canned Heat’s On The Road Again are by far the best.

Though he grew up as a drummer and was raised on rock & roll, Coco Montoya became an outstanding blues guitarist in the '90s after stints in the bands of Albert Collins and John Mayall. Montoya debuted as a leader in 1995 with the Blind Pig album Gotta Mind to Travel and garnered an award for Best New Blues Artist at the following year's Handy Awards ceremonies.

Born in Santa Monica, Montoya played drums for a local rock band that toured the region during the mid-'70s, playing in area clubs. Although he had recently been turned on to blues at an Albert King show, he was somewhat unprepared to sit in with another blues legend — "the Iceman" Albert Collins — when a bar-owner friend of Montoya invited the bluesman to play at his nightclub. Though his inexperience showed, the young drummer impressed Collins enough to hire him for a Pacific Northwest tour three months later. The tour soon ended, but the pair's affiliation remained for more than five years, while Montoya learned much about the handling of blues guitar from "the Master of the Telecaster."

By the early '80s, Coco Montoya was back in the small-time nightclub business, playing guitar with several regional bands. At one night's show, he realized that John Mayall was in the audience, so he dedicated a cover of "All Your Love" to the British blues maestro. The song prompted Mayall to hire Montoya as lead guitarist for a new version of the Bluesbreakers he had formed. Despite the enormous pressure of filling a spot once held by Eric Clapton and Peter Green, Montoya jumped at the opportunity.

His first album with the Bluesbreakers came in 1985. Mayall had not released an album in five years at that point and the Bluesbreakers had been dead for more than 15, but the live album Behind the Iron Curtain proved Mayall's viability thanks mostly to the fiery work of Montoya. The guitarist appeared on three studio albums with Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, but then struck out on his own by the mid-'90s. Signed to Blind Pig, Montoya released Gotta Mind to Travel in 1995 with help from Mayall and another former Bluesbreaker compatriot, rhythm guitarist Debbie Davies. After years of toil under Collins and Mayall, Montoya was finally in the spotlight and his award as Best New Blues Artist of 1996 proved quite ironic, given his years of experience. His second album, Ya Think I'd Know Better, was followed by 1997's Just Let Go. At that point, Montoya and Blind Pig parted company and he signed with Alligator Records. Suspicion was released in 2000, followed two years later by Can't Look Back, a disc that incorporated a definitive soul/R&B approach.

Road Trip Blues Artist Various Artists Album Title Road Trip Blues Date of Release Mar 14, 2000 Genre Blues Type various artists 1. Can't Get My Ass in Gear performed by Coco Montoya - 4:03 2. Stay Out of Automobiles performed by Wilder, Webb & The Nash Vegans - 3:08 3. Drive to Survive performed by Thackery, Jimmy & The Drivers - 4:10 4. Cadillac Blues performed by Bassett, Johnnie & The Blues... - 5:17 5. Too Many Drivers performed by Johnson, Big Jack - 2:51 6. Every Woman I Know performed by Emerson, Billy "The Kid" - 2:45 7. Any Place I'm Going (Beats Any Place I've... performed by Otis Rush - 4:38 8. 13 Highway performed by Muddy Waters - 3:03 9. Ride With Me performed by Hunter, Long John - 3:27 10. Pretty Baby performed by Junior Parker - 3:02 11. Motel King performed by Jame Harman Band - 2:49 12. Highway 49 performed by Omar & The Howlers - 4:27 13. Pontiac Blues performed by Williamson, Sonny Boy - 2:43 14. The Road performed by Morgam, Mike & The Crawl - 3:33

15. On the Road Again performed by Canned Heat - 4:59

A7 Cherry Ball Blues - Ry CooderBoomer's Story (1972)

This is one of my favorite old Cooder tracks. This is from his second album. The first is untitled but has a picture of an Airstream trailer. I call it the Airstream album. Duh!

Whether serving as a session musician, solo artist, or soundtrack composer, Ry Cooder's chameleon-like fretted instrument virtuosity, songwriting, and choices of material encompass an incredibly eclectic range of North American musical styles, including rock & roll, blues, reggae, Tex-Mex, Hawaiian, Dixieland jazz, country, folk, R&B, gospel, and vaudeville. The 16-year-old Cooder began his career in 1963 in a blues band with Jackie DeShannon and then formed the short-lived Rising Sons in 1965 with Taj Mahal and Spirit drummer Ed Cassidy. Cooder met producer Terry Melcher through the Rising Sons and was invited to perform at several sessions with Paul Revere and the Raiders. During his subsequent career as a session musician, Cooder's trademark slide guitar work graced the recordings of such artists as Captain Beefheart (Safe As Milk), Randy Newman, Little Feat, Van Dyke Parks, the Rolling Stones (Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers), Taj Mahal, and Gordon Lightfoot. He also appeared on the soundtracks of Candy and Performance.

Cooder made his debut as a solo artist in 1970 with a self-titled album featuring songs by Leadbelly, Blind Willie Johnson, Sleepy John Estes, and Woody Guthrie. The follow-up, Into the Purple Valley, introduced longtime cohorts Jim Keltner on drums and Jim Dickinson on bass, and it and Boomer's Story largely repeated and refined the syncopated style and mood of the first. In 1974, Cooder produced what is generally regarded as his best album, Paradise and Lunch, and its follow-up, Chicken Skin Music, showcased a potent blend of Tex-Mex, Hawaiian, gospel, and soul music, and featured contributions from Flaco Jimenez and Gabby Pahinui. In 1979, Bop Till You Drop was the first major-label album to be recorded digitally. In the early '80s, Cooder began to augment his solo output with soundtrack work on such films as Blue Collar, The Long Riders, and The Border; he has gone on to compose music for Southern Comfort, Goin' South, Paris, Texas, Streets of Fire, Alamo Bay, Blue City, Crossroads, Cocktail, Johnny Handsome, Steel Magnolias, and Geronimo. Music by Ry Cooder (1995) compiled two discs' worth of highlights from Cooder's film work.

In 1992, Cooder joined Keltner, John Hiatt, and renowned British tunesmith Nick Lowe, all of whom had played on Hiatt's Bring the Family, to form Little Village, which toured and recorded one album. Cooder next turned his attention to world music, recording the album A Meeting by the River with Indian musician V.M. Bhatt. Cooder's next project, a duet album with renowned African guitarist Ali Farka Toure titled Talking Timbuktu, won the 1994 Grammy for Best World Music Recording.

Boomer's Story Artist Ry Cooder Album Title Boomer's Story Date of Release 1972 (release) AMG Rating 4.5 *Genre Rock Time 38:38 Largely laidback and bluesy, this album features a number of paeans to an America long lost. — Jeff Tamarkin 1. Boomer's Story (Traditional) - 4:13 2. Cherry Ball Blues (James) - 4:10 3. Crow Black Chicken (Wilson) - 2:14 4. Ax Sweet Mama (Estes) - 4:23 5. Maria Elena (Barcelata/Russell) - 4:30 6. Dark End of the Street (Moman/Penn) - 3:25 7. Rally Round the Flag (Root/Traditional) - 3:34 8. Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer (Adamson/McHugh) - 3:00 9. President Kennedy (Estes) - 4:39 10. Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man (Traditional) - 4:30

A8 Don't Know Why - Norah JonesCome Away With Me (2002)

You probably have had enough of this by now, but here it is anyway. Did you know she is Ravi Shankar’s daughter? Connections, eh?

Sultry vocalist and pianist Norah Jones developed her unique blend of jazz and traditional vocal pop with hints of bluesy country and contemporary folk due in large part to her unique upbringing. Born March 30, 1979, in New York City, the daughter of Ravi Shankar quietly grew up in Texas with her mother. While she always found the music of Billie Holiday and Bill Evans both intriguing and comforting, she didn't really explore jazz until attending Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. During high school, Jones won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition in 1996,

and earned a second Best Jazz Vocalist award in 1997. Putting her vocal talents on the back burner, Jones worked toward earning a degree in jazz piano at the University of North Texas for two years before accepting a friend's offer of a summer sublet in Greenwich Village during the summer of 1999. Although she fully intended to return to college that fall, the lure of the folk coffeehouses and jazz clubs proved too strong and she soon became inspired to write her own songs. Jones appeared regularly with the Trip-hop-Electronica band Wax Poetic and assembled her own group around songwriters Jesse Harris (guitar) and Lee Alexander (bass), with Dan Rieser on drums.

In October of 2000, the group recorded a handful of demos for Blue Note Records and on the strength of these recordings, Jones signed to the jazz label in early 2001. Following an appearance on Charlie Hunter's Songs From the Analog Playground, Jones spent much of 2001 performing live with Hunter's group and working on material for her debut. Come Away With Me, recorded by Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Manhattan Transfer, k.d. lang) and legendary producer Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, the Bee Gees), was released in early 2002 and garnered much public attention. The combination of her striking beauty and the fact that she was the daughter of an internationally renowned musician placed Jones in the awkward position of defending her music from those who dismissed her as another pretty face (the same argument used by those opposed to Diana Krall) and/or another riding the coattails of her musical royal heritage (see Natalie Cole, Miki Coltrane, Corey Parker). Although not by any stretch a "jazz" album (the label chooses to call it "jazz-informed"), it does feature jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and session drummer Brian Blade, and seems to indicate a new direction Blue Note is willing to take. Jones and her group followed up the release of Come Away With Me with a series of tour dates on the West Coast.

Come Away With Me Artist Norah Jones Album Title Come Away With Me Date of Release Feb 26, 2002 AMG Rating 4 *Genre Vocal Norah Jones's debut on Blue Note is a mellow, acoustic pop affair with soul and country overtones, immaculately produced by the great Arif Mardin. (It's pretty much an open secret that the 22-year-old vocalist and pianist is the daughter of Ravi Shankar.) Jones is not quite a jazz singer, but she is joined by some highly regarded jazz talent: guitarists Adam Levy, Adam Rogers, Tony Scherr, Bill Frisell, and Kevin Breit; drummers Brian Blade, Dan Rieser, and Kenny Wolleson; organist Sam Yahel; accordionist Rob Burger; and violinist Jenny Scheinman. Her regular guitarist and bassist, Jesse Harris and Lee Alexander, respectively, play on every track and also serve as the chief songwriters. Both have a gift for melody, simple yet elegant progressions, and evocative lyrics. (Harris made an intriguing guest appearance on Seamus Blake's Stranger Things Have Happened.) Jones, for her part, wrote the title track and the pretty but slightly restless "Nightingale." She also includes convincing readings of Hank Williams's "Cold Cold Heart," J.D. Loudermilk's "Turn Me On," and Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You." There's a touch of Rickie Lee Jones in Jones's voice, a touch of Bonnie Raitt in the arrangements; her youth and her piano skills could lead one to call her an Alicia Keys for grown-ups. While the mood of this record stagnates after a few songs, it does give a strong indication of Jones' alluring talents. — David R. Adler 1. Don't Know Why (Harris) - 3:06 2. Seven Years (Alexander) - 2:25 3. Cold, Cold Heart (Williams) - 3:38 (future Naweedna selection) 4. Feelin' the Same Way (Alexander) - 2:57 5. Come Away With Me (Jones) - 3:18 6. Shoot the Moon (Harris) - 3:56 7. Turn Me On (Loudermilk) - 2:34 8. Lonestar (Alexander) - 3:06 (future Naweedna selection) 9. I've Got to See You Again (Harris) - 4:13 10. Painter Song (Alexander/Hopkins) - 2:42 11. One Flight Down (Harris) - 3:05 12. Nightingale (Jones) - 4:12 13. The Long Day Is Over (Harris/Jones) - 2:44 14. The Nearness of You (Carmichael/Washington) - 3:07

A9 Everything I Have Is Yours - Max RobbPHC-D

I cannot find any information on Max Robb at all. I don’t even know how I know his name. As far as I know, he made one appearance on PHC, and I just happened to record it. Love the tune and would like more of his stuff.

A10 And I Love Her - Gary McFarlandSoft Samba (1964)

Okay, I disagree with the review. I really like this ba-ba-ba stuff – and the whistling. Simple minds, I suppose.

Largely forgotten now, Gary McFarland was one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz during the early '60s. An "adult prodigy," as Gene Lees accurately noted, McFarland was an ingenious composer whose music could reveal shades of complex emotional subtlety and clever childlike simplicity. While in the Army, he became interested in jazz and attempted to play trumpet, trombone, and piano. In 1955, he took up playing the vibes. Displaying a quick ability for interesting writing, he obtained a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music. He spent one semester there and with the encouragement of pianist John Lewis, concentrated on large-band arrangements of his own compositions. He attained early notoriety and success working with Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Hodges, John Lewis, Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer, and Anita O'Day. McFarland began devoting more attention to his own career by 1963 when he released what is often regarded as his most significant recording, The Gary McFarland Orchestra/Special Guest Soloist: Bill Evans. He also recorded in small-group settings, which featured his clever vibes playing. The success of his instrumental pop collection, Soft Samba, allowed McFarland to form his first performing group. But his recordings thereafter, more often than not, featured an easy listening instrumental pop bent. McFarland went on to excellent work with Gabor Szabo, Shirley Scott, Zoot Sims, and Steve Kuhn, but only rarely featured his outstanding compositional talents (as in 1968's America the Beautiful). He formed the short-lived Skye Records label with Szabo and vibist Cal Tjader in the late 60s and continued to record prolifically. By the late 60s, though, he was forgotten by his initial jazz followers and he died in 1971 after being poisoned in a New York City bar. Soft Samba Artist Gary McFarland Album Title Soft Samba Date of Release Jun 15, 1964 - Oct 7, 1964 (recording) AMG Rating 1 *Genre Jazz AMG REVIEW: Very popular in its day and still loathed by jazz lovers that remember it today. No jazz here and little of interest to those outside the bachelor-pad scene. — Douglas Payne 1. She Loves You 2. La Vie en Rose 3. California, Here I Come 4. I Want to Hold Your Hand (Lennon/McCartney) 5. From Russia With Love (Bart) 6. And I Love Her (Lennon/McCartney) 7. The Good Life 8. Emily 9. The Love Goddess 10. More (Ciorciolini/Newell/Oliviero/Ortolani) 11. Ringo 12. A Hard Day's Night (Lennon/McCartney)

A11 Spoonful - Heather EatmanReal (2001)

I hated this the first time I heard it on WFUV. After a couple more samplings, however, I started to like it. I especially like the conflict between the innocent little voice and the gut-bucket blues classic.

Heather Eatman grew up in a theatrical household — her father directed plays at colleges in Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and she developed a strong affinity for the tragic, weary, memorable female characters of Tennessee Williams. She credits the theater with helping her overcome her shyness by demonstrating to her that she could create her own world through her songs and that once she was onstage, she could manipulate the way she came across. She moved to Manhattan at 17 years of age to attend the Parsons School of Design and was soon performing at bars and clubs around the city. The theatrical influence comes across in Eatman's spare acoustic songs, many of which concern Williams-esque female characters beaten down and scarred by life. Her album roster includes Mascara Falls which was released by John Prine's label Oh Boy in (1995), her critically acclaimed self-produced album, Candy and Dirt in (1999), and Real, which was issued by Eminent Records in (2001).

Real Artist Heather Eatman Album Title Real Date of Release May 8, 2001 AMG Rating 4 * checkedGenre Folk Though she maintains her traditional folk attributes, Heather Eatman's third release, recorded in Nashville, is a no-nonsense roots rock collection that expertly draws from classic pop ("Mine"), Americana ("Blackfoot"), blues ("Train," and a coquettish reading of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful"), and blue-eyed soul ("Phone Call"). Eatman's smoky vocal delivery, which is up front in the mix at all times, is the perfect vehicle to convey her tempered tough/sensitive observations of the human condition. Former Lone Justice pianist Bruce Brody co-wrote two

standout tracks, the Beatlesque "How" and the lush dirge "Too Wild," a tender farewell to an ailing horse. Eatman's romantic side surfaces in "Heaven Help Us," a mid-tempo ballad that contrasts a stale love affair with a decaying movie theater in an aural backdrop that recalls John Lennon's early '70s work. On each cut, the singer's compositions are embellished with an array of guitar textures that stretch from Keith Richards' patented bar-band riffing to dissonant fragments of sound, along with stellar atmospheric keyboard work from Brody and producer Roger Moutenot. Lyrically and melodically, Eatman is at the top of her game, and her air-tight backing band captures the spark of a live performance in the confines of a recording studio without wasting a note. — Tom Semioli 1. Mine - 2:49 2. Blackout - 3:36 3. Train - 3:12 4. Heaven Help Us - 4:08 5. How - 3:45 6. Spoonful - 3:20 7. Real - 3:32 8. Phone Cal - 3:21 9. Mixed-Up Girl - 4:06 10. Midnight Shift - 2:45 11. On the Boulevard - 4:08 12. Too Wild - 7:07

A12 Ebudæ – EnyaShepard Moon (1991)

There is a long story behind this … and all my other Enya tracks. We were watching an episode of Northern Exposure that featured the Native American receptionist, Marilyn. They played this track at the end of the show. It raised the hair on my neck. I’m a fool for Native American stuff, and, because the whole show was about Marilyn, I assumed this was a Native American piece. It seems others were equally intrigued because there was an article in the paper about it. The article identified the artist, but not the track or CD from which the track came. Okay, so now we know it was Enya, whoever that is, so we went to Buzzo’s and found two Enya CDs – and bought ‘em both. Of course, this is the only track like this on either CD. So now it is in a Naweedna CD, and I can put the rest of my Enya away.

With her blend of folk melodies, synthesized backdrops, and classical motifs, Enya created a distinctive style that more closely resembled new age than the folk and Celtic music that provided her initial influences. Enya is from Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland, which she left in 1980 to join the Irish band Clannad, the group that already featured her older brothers and sisters. She stayed with Clannad for two years, then left, hooking up with producer Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, with whom she recorded film and television scores. The result was a successful album of TV music for the BBC. Enya then recorded Watermark (1988), which featured her distinctive, flowing music and multi-overdubbed trancelike singing; the album sold four million copies worldwide. Watermark established Enya as an international star and launched a successful career that lasted well into the '90s.

Enya (born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin) was born into a musical family. Her father, Leo Brennan, was the leader of the Slieve Foy Band, a popular Irish show band; her mother was an amateur musician. Most importantly to Enya's career, was her siblings, who formed Clannad in 1976 with several of their uncles. Enya joined the band as a keyboardist in 1979, and contributed to several of the group's popular television soundtracks. In 1982, she left Clannad, claiming that she was uninterested in following the pop direction the group had begun to pursue. Within a few years, she was commissioned, along with producer/arranger Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, to provide the score for a BBC-TV series called The Celts. The soundtrack was released in 1986 as her eponymous solo album.

Enya didn't receive much notice, but Enya and the Ryans' second effort, Watermark, became a surprise hit upon its release in 1988. "Orinoco Flow," the first single, became a number one hit in Britain, helping the album eventually sell eight million copies worldwide. Enya spent the years following the success of Watermark rather quietly; her most notable appearance was a cameo on Sinéad O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. She finally released Shepherd Moons, her follow-up to Watermark, in 1991. Shepherd Moons was even more successful than its predecessor, eventually selling over ten million copies worldwide; it entered the U.S. charts at number 17 and remained in the Top 200 for almost four years.

Again, Enya was slow to follow up on the success of Shepherd Moons, spending nearly four years working on her fourth album. The record, entitled Memory of Trees, was released in December of 1995. Memory of Trees entered the U.S. charts at number nine and sold over two million copies within its first year of release. 1997 saw the release of a greatest-hits collection, Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya, which featured two new songs. Enya's first album of new material in five years, Day Without Rain, was released in late 2000. Shepherd Moons Artist Enya Album Title Shepherd Moons

Date of Release Nov 1991 (release) AMG Rating 4.5 *Genre Newage Time 43:09 Calling Shepherd Moons a near carbon copy of Watermark puts it quite mildly. Like Watermark, Shepherd Moons opens with the title track, a calm instrumental, has another brief instrumental titled after a Dora Saint book smack in the middle ("No Holly for Miss Quinn"), and concludes with a number incorporating a striking uilleann pipes solo, "Smaointe...." In general, Enya's own musical style and work remains the same, again assisted on production by Nicky Ryan and with lyrics by Roma Ryan. Shepherd Moons does have one key factor that's also carried over from Watermark — it's quite good listening. Though the total continuity means that those who enjoy her work will again be pleased and those who dislike it won't change their minds, in terms of finding her own vision and sticking with it, Enya has increasingly polished and refined her work to a strong, elegant degree. "Caribbean Blue," the lead single, avoids repeating the successful formula of "Orinoco Flow" by means of its waltz time — a subtle enough change, but one that colors and drives the overall composition and performance, the closest Enya might ever get to a dance number. Some songs call to mind traditional Irish music even more strongly than much of her earlier work, while two other tracks are haunting rearrangements of old, traditional numbers. With her trademark understated drama in full flow many other places, especially on the wonderful "Book of Days" (replaced on later pressings with an English language version done for the film Far and Away), Enya shows herself to still have it, to grand effect. — Ned Raggett 1. Shepherd Moons (Enya/Ryan) - 3:42 2. Caribbean Blue (Enya/Ryan) - 3:58 3. How Can I Keep from Singing? (Traditional) - 4:23 4. Ebudae (Enya/Ryan) - 1:54 5. Angeles (Enya/Ryan) - 3:57 6. No Holly for Miss Quinn (Enya/Ryan) - 2:40 7. Book of Days (Enya/Ryan) - 2:32 8. Evacuee (Enya/Ryan) - 3:50 9. Lothlórien (Enya/Ryan) - 2:08 10. Marble Halls (Traditional) - 3:53 11. After Ventus (Enya/Ryan) - 4:05 12. Smaointe (Enya/Ryan) - 6:07

A13 First Day Of Spring - Colorblind James ExperienceColorblind James Experience (1987)

This is another Mahoney track. Here are two messages about Colorblind I received from Bob.

Colorblind James: A local Rochester Band fronted by a guy named Chuck Cuminale (James Charles Cuminale to be exact, hence the "James" in the name, which is a takeoff on the Jimmy Hendrix Experience and Blind Lemon Jefferson; Chuck is known for his wry humor). He was my next door neighbor during my childhood, and my brother's best friend. His sister is Kitty, the bartender at the Idle Hour. I was telling you about him the other night. His music is very quirky, jazz and rock-oriented stuff. Unique is a good word. I don't have a lot but I can certainly get more to you. He has done a live tribute to Bob Dylan every year for about 15 or 20 years now at local clubs, whereby he plays only BD songs all night, using up to 20 or more guest musicians for one song each. It's a great party and I have gone to many of them over the years. Chuck is a Bob Dylan jukebox and encyclopedia. He also has done tributes to Elvis and Hank Williams.

Well, I don't know if you saw the article in the paper about the passing of a local musician. Chuck Cuminale, AKA Colorblind James of "A Different Bob" fame, died earlier this week. He apparently had a heart attack in his pool and drowned. This was tough to take, as I knew Chuck all my life. I grew up next door to him, he was a couple of years older than me and was a big influence on me as a kid. He was a staple of the Rochester music scene for two decades, with The Colorblind James Experience. He really was a creative genius and had a big effect on a lot of people. You can see just how much by reading the testimonials, including mine, at: www.therefrigerator.com. Click on the "Chuck Cuminale Remembered" link. The collection of entries is growing rapidly. Tomorrow is his funeral. Whew.

Colorblind James Experience - Colorblind James Experience Date of Release 1987 (release) Genre Rock AMG EXPERT REVIEW: An utterly perfect crackerjack of an album - the Colorblind James Experience throw a cocked eye at country music of all stripes, resulted in a manic, cartoony collection of songs that sound like Raymond Scott throwing a hootenanny in an downtown Manhattan bar. The centerpiece track, "Considering a Move to Memphis," received the alternative airplay in 1987, but, in some ways, it's dissimilar from the rest of the album - a long rambling groove propelled by a vibes-and-guitar riff, over which Colorblind James drawls out deadpan surreal nonsense, a love letter to a city he may never have visited in the first place. Everything else is much shorter, with more traditional song structures - but what songs! "First Day of Spring" contains the winner chorus "she's a witch!/You were going to marry that girl!" as jug band polka percolates underneath. "Why'd the

Boy Throw the Clock Out the Window?" plays like a wind-up toy band spinning out of control. And "A Different Bob" is a slinky, lounge number with a dream logic to its words. Largely ignored by the American public, it took British DJs from the @BBC to break the band in Europe. Listen and you'll agree they were onto something. The CD adds two bonus tracks. - Ted Mills 1. Why'd the Boy Throw the Clock Out the... 2. The German Girls 3. A Different Bob 4. First Day of Spring (on Naweedna 2002B) 5. Walking My Camel Home 6. Gravel Road 7. Considering a Move to Memphis (future Naweedna selection) 8. Fledgling Circus 9. Dance Critters 10. Great Northwest 11. Sophisticated 12. Havoc Theme Bernard Heveron - Bass, Vocals Colorblind James - Guitar, Vocals, Vibraphone Phillip Marshall - Guitar, Vocals Jim McAvaney - Drums David Nelson - Guitar, Vocals

A14 The Right Kind Of Man - Toni PriceMidnight Pumpkin (2001)

A friend of a friend suggested I check out Toni Price, so I downloaded everything I could find and discovered I really like the lady. There are two selections on the Naweedna 2002 double CD. There will be at least one more in the future – We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye.

Vocalist and song stylist Toni Price's first exposure to blues was through second-generation blueswoman Bonnie Raitt. After studying her recordings, Price began to study the recordings Raitt learned from, women blues singers like Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey and others who made names for themselves in the 1960s blues and folk revival.

Price began singing in high school, but after graduating she sat in with country bands around Nashville, where she was for the most part born and raised, after moving from southern New Jersey. When Price lived in Nashville in the late 1980s, she would religiously listen to local blues radio programs on college stations there. Price moved to Austin in 1989, and learned from the locals, who included Clifford Antone, owner of Antone's blues nightclub, and Austin-area guitarists like Derek O'Brien, who produced her second album. Shortly after she began singing in country bars in Nashville, she hooked up with songwriter Gwil Owen, who wrote many of the songs on her debut, Swim Away. In her blues singing career, Price cites vocalists Aretha Franklin, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline and Ray Charles as influences.

Although critics have heaped praise on her gifted phrasing and delivery at her live shows and on both of her albums, the title of singer-songwriter is an inappropriate one for Price; the latter part of the title doesn't apply to her. In an interview in Austin, Price said she's never had the inspiration or desire to write songs, and figures she wasn't given that talent.

Price's albums out on the Antone's/Discovery label include Swim Away (1993), Hey (1995) and Lowdown and Up (1999). Midnight Pumpkin appeared in summer 2001. Although she's relatively little-known outside of Austin's tight-knit blues community, she could be in line for a career on a par with Raitt's, if she's willing to do a lot more touring in the future.

Midnight Pumpkin Artist Toni Price Album Title Midnight Pumpkin Date of Release Jun 19, 2001 AMG Rating 4 *Genre Rock As a blues and R&B singer, Toni Price has no peers. Only Bonnie Raitt and Sue Foley — both guitar players of considerable merit — can approach the emotion Price can dig from a song, and of the two only Raitt has the same confidence with the material. Here, she is surrounded by her stalwart band and a host of friends who make up the elite studio crew of Austin, TX, including fiddler Champ Hood; guitarists Derek O'Brien, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and Casper Rawls; bassist Frosty Smith; drummer Michael Duffy; David Grissom; and string king James Burton; as well as Tommy Shannon from Double Trouble and Jon Dee Graham. There are percussionists and a horn section and the whole damn thing shimmers with grace. Price delivers her songs without the reaching wail of her earlier records because she doesn't need to; she's a more nuanced vocalist, allowing the song to dictate to her what it needs. And what a collection of songs! There's the stomping

bluegrass of Shelley King's "Call of My Heart," the smoky, tender artistry of Gwil Owen's "Something in the Water," the bluesy soul of "Work on It" and "Start of Something Good," and the Okie blues of J.J. Cale's "Like You Used To." Price also digs into her considerable early swing chops on the standard "Right Kind of Man," and duets with Malford Milligan on what should now be the watermark for Joe Tex's "I Want to Do Everything for You"; its original raw soul and barely restrained heat smolders between the singers. As if that weren't enough, there's a gospel quartet version of the late Blaze Foley's "Darlin'" and Gwil Owen and David Olney's swampy R&B torch stomp "Measure for Measure." From a lesser singer, this record would be a mess, a hodgepodge of rootless styles and wasted ambition. But in the heart and voice of Price — via the production aesthetic of O'Brien and herself — these songs all segue into one another, dovetailing seamlessly into a portrait of original raw soul. Lyrics and harmonies drip from Price's honeyed mouth like fine whiskey and cut a silhouette of her profile in the heart of the blues. One listen to Midnight Pumpkin and you'll never be the same. — Thom Jurek 1. Start of Somethin' Good (Williams) - 6:01 2. Thank You for the Love (Keck) - 4:29 3. Work on It (Williams) - 4:03 4. Something in the Water (Owen) - 4:22 5. Right Kind Of Man, The (Price) - 3:25 6. Call of My Heart (King) - 3:42 7. Darlin' (Foley) - 3:55 8. Measure for Measure (Olney/Owen/Tunes) - 4:12 9. I Want To Do (Everything For You) performed by Price / Malford Milligan - 4:17 10. Who Needs Tears (King) - 2:42 11. Like You Used To (Cale) - 4:03 12. I'll Do Anything To Keep This Love Alive (Williams) - 4:37 13. We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye (Woods) - 3:13

A15 Oh Babe What Would You Say - Hurricane SmithSuperhits of the 70's (1990)

Got this CD from Milne Library. The very first time I played it, this track was immediately added to the Naweedna list. This is the kind of stuff I like – nothing complicated, just easy to listen to with a touch of humor. Hope you like it as well.

Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 10 Artist Various Artists Album Title Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 10 Date of Release Oct 1990 (release) Genre Rock Time 41:13 This is a goofy entry in the series, mostly owing to the presence of Hurricane Smith's "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say," Loudon Wainwright III's "Dead Skunk," and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show's "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'," interspersed between Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California," "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel, "Brother Louie" by the Stories, Dobie Gray's soul ballad "Drift Away," and "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne," which had the distinction of becoming an almost-major hit by Looking Glass. Nothing, however, fully prepares one for the closing track, the defiantly upbeat bubblegum pop sensibilities of "Heartbeat—It's a Lovebeat" by the DeFranco Family, a sound one had hoped was lost to the world when Donny Osmond's voice changed. — Bruce Eder 1. It Never Rains in Southern California performed by Albert Hammond - 3:12 2. Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? performed by Hurricane Smith - 3:22 3. Last Song performed by Edward Bear - 3:15 4. Dead Skunk performed by Wainwright, Loudon III - 3:08 5. The Cover of the Rolling Stone performed by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show - 2:53 6. The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia performed by Vicki Lawrence - 3:36 7. Stuck in the Middle With You performed by Stealers Wheel - 3:24 8. Drift Away performed by Dobie Gray - 3:57 9. Wildflower performed by Skylark - 4:07 10. Brother Louie performed by Stories - 3:55 11. Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne [*] performed by Looking Glass - 3:25 12. Heartbeat (It's a Love Beat) [*] performed by DeFranco Family / DeFranco Family - 2:59

A16 Garden In The Rain - Dan HicksIt Happened One Bite (1978)

I have several versions of this track. I played them all against each other and Dan’s version was the clear winner – even better, in my opinion, than Krall’s. This is a very strange album. We have the vinyl and the comments below are very faithful to the actual liner notes. There are several interesting tracks that will likely appear on future Naweedna CDs.

Throughout his decades-long career, Dan Hicks stood as one of contemporary music's true eccentrics. While steeped in folk, his acoustic sound knew few musical boundaries, drawing on country, call-and-response vocals, jazz phrasing, and no small amount of humor to create a distinctive, albeit sporadic, body of work which earned him a devoted cult following.

Hicks was born December 9, 1941, to a military family then living in Arkansas, and grew up in California, where he was a drummer in a number of high-school bands. He attended college in San Francisco, where he switched to guitar and began playing folk music. He returned to the drums, however, when he joined the Charlatans, one of the Bay City's first psychedelic bands. Although the Charlatans were short-lived — they issued only one single during their existence — they proved influential throughout the San Francisco musical community and were one of the first acts to play the legendary Family Dog.

Hicks had formed the acoustic group Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks in 1968 as an opener for the Charlatans, but soon the new band became his primary project. After adding a pair of female backing vocalists — "the Lickettes" — the group issued its debut LP, Original Recordings, in 1969. After a pair of 1971 records, Where's the Money? and Striking It Rich, they issued 1973's Last Train to Hicksville, which proved to be the Hot Licks' most successful album yet. At the peak of the group's popularity, however, Hicks dissolved the band and did not resurface until 1978, releasing the solo LP It Happened One Bite, the soundtrack to an uncompleted feature by animator Ralph Bakshi. He then phased in and out of the music industry for more than a decade and did not issue another major recording until 1994's Shootin' Straight, a live recording cut with a new band, the Acoustic Warriors. In 2000, over two decades after the group's dissolution, Hicks re-formed the Hot Licks and issued Beatin' the Heat. Alive and Lickin' arrived a year later.

It Happened One Bite Artist Dan Hicks Album Title It Happened One Bite Date of Release 1978 (release) AMG Rating 4.5 * checkedGenre Rock Type soundtrack A cherished rarity among even his most die-hard fans, It Happened One Bite finds Dan Hicks and company — not exactly his Hot Licks, but close enough for hipster folk swing — providing the soundtrack for a 1978 animated film set during the gangster '50s. Unfortunately, the cartoon in question, at least with Hicks' exceptional soundtrack for it, was shelved. A reworked version of the film eventually released in 1982 featured none of the tunes Hicks wrote and recorded. Too bad, too, because his 13 songs are all top-notch tomfoolery of the patented Hicks variety. Though a Warner Brothers album made a brief appearance on store shelves back in the days of vinyl records, U.S. consumers looking for it on CD had only the choice of a pricey Japanese import or going without. Enter Rhino Handmade. The reissue label remedied the dilemma with a widescreen limited-edition CD pressing of 4,500 in late 2001. This disc includes the original album, plus an additional nine tunes (including the standard "It's Only a Paper Moon"). Available only from the Rhino Handmade Internet site. — Brian Beatty 1. Cruizin' - 3:04 2. Crazy 'Cause He Is - 3:28 3. Garden in the Rain - 2:45 4. Boogaloo Jones - 2:39 5. Cloud My Sunny Mood - 3:17 6. Dizzy Dogs - 1:14 7. Vinne's Lookin' Good - 2:27 8. Lovers for Life - 1:34 9. Collared Blues - 3:46 10. Waitin' (Hicks) - 2:38 11. Reveille Revisited - 2:01 12. Mama, I'm an Outlaw - 1:27 13. Boogaloo Plays Guitar - 2:46 14. You Belong to Me (King/Price/Stewart) - 3:19 15. Mama, I'm an Outlaw [Slow Version] - 1:37 16. Vinnie's Lookin' Good [Slow Version] - 1:30 17. Gone With the Wind - 6:29 18. Walkin' My Baby Back Home (Ahlert/Turk) - 4:06 19. It's Only a Paper Moon (Arlen/Harburg/Rose) - 8:05 20. Honeysuckle Rose (Razaf/Waller) - 6:07 21. Lulu's Back in Town (Dubin/Warren) - 7:38 22. Hummin' to Myself - 5:57

A17 Alicia - Eddie HarrisExodus to Jazz (1961)

This comes from an album I bought in my youth – shortly after the 1961 release date. When I looked Eddie Harris up at AMG, I was shocked to find so much information … and the 5 star rating for this album. The liner notes say Eddie created this tune while walking the streets of Paris, where he was stationed while in the Army. It has to do with a lost love, Alicia, I presume.

Long underrated in the pantheon of jazz greats, Eddie Harris was an eclectic and imaginative saxophonist whose career was marked by a hearty appetite for experimentation. For quite some time, he was far more popular with audiences than with critics, many of whom denigrated him for his more commercially successful ventures. Harris' tastes ranged across the spectrum of black music, not all of which was deemed acceptable by jazz purists. He had the chops to handle technically demanding bop, and the restraint to play in the cool-toned West Coast style, but he also delved into crossover-friendly jazz-pop, rock- and funk-influenced fusion, outside improvisations, bizarre electronic effects, new cross-breedings of traditional instruments, blues crooning, and even comedy. Much of this fell outside the bounds of what critics considered legitimate, serious jazz, and so they dismissed him out of hand as too mainstream or too gimmicky. To be fair, Harris' large catalog is certainly uneven; not everything he tried worked. Yet with the passage of time, the excellence of his best work has become abundantly clear. Harris' accomplishments are many: he was the first jazz artist to release a gold-selling record, thanks to 1961's hit adaptation of the "Exodus" movie theme; he was universally acknowledged as the best player of the electric Varitone sax, as heard on his hit 1967 album The Electrifying Eddie Harris; he was an underrated composer whose "Freedom Jazz Dance" was turned into a standard by Miles Davis; he even invented his own instruments by switching brass and reed mouthpieces. Plus, his 1969 set with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released as Swiss Movement, and became one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time. Eddie Harris was born in Chicago on October 20, 1934. His first musical experiences were as a singer in church, starting at age five, and he soon began playing hymns by ear on the piano. He spent part of his high school years at Du Sable, where he studied the vibraphone under the legendary band director Walter Dyett, a disciplinarian who trained some of the South Side's greatest jazzmen: Nat King Cole, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester, and many others (even rocker Bo Diddley). He later returned to the piano and took up the tenor sax as well, and went on to study music at Roosevelt College. He landed his first professional job as a pianist, backing saxman Gene Ammons, and got the chance to sit in with greats like Charlie Parker and Lester Young. After college, he was drafted into the military; while serving in Europe, he successfully auditioned for the 7th Army band, which also included the likes of Don Ellis, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton, among others. Following his discharge, he lived in New York and played in whatever groups and venues he could, still chiefly as a pianist. Harris returned to Chicago in 1960 and soon signed with the successful, locally based Vee Jay, which was better known for its R&B and blues acts. Although the label signed Harris as a pianist, he played only tenor sax on his first album. That album, 1961's Exodus to Jazz, would become one of jazz's most surprising success stories. The key track was "Exodus," Harris' easygoing rearrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the epic Biblical film of the same name. It was an unlikely source for a jazz tune, and an even unlikelier hit, but it managed to catch on with mainstream radio; released as a single in a shortened version, it even climbed into the lower reaches of the pop Top 40. Its success pushed the LP all the way to number two on the pop album charts, and Exodus to Jazz became the first jazz album ever certified gold. Many critics lambasted Harris for his commercial success, overlooking his very real talent; for one, Harris played so sweetly and smoothly in the upper register of his horn that many listeners assumed he was playing an alto, or even a soprano sax. Stung by the criticism, Harris long refused to play "Exodus" in concert; nonetheless, he recorded several albums for Vee Jay over the next two years that often contained attempts to duplicate his movie-theme-adaptation idea. None of his records were as popular as Exodus to Jazz, though they sold quite respectably. In 1964, Harris moved over to Columbia, pursuing a similar musical direction (albeit with orchestral backing at times). Harris switched over to Atlantic in 1965 and promptly rejuvenated his jazz credentials with The In Sound, a classic, fairly straight-ahead bop album that introduced his original "Freedom Jazz Dance" (later covered by Miles Davis on the classic Miles Smiles). On the follow-up, 1966's Mean Greens, Harris dabbled in the electric piano; later that year, on The Tender Storm, he first experimented with the electric Varitone saxophone, which was essentially a traditional instrument fitted with an amplification system and an electronic signal processor that allowed for different tonal effects. That instrument became the focus of 1967's The Electrifying Eddie Harris, a bluesy, funky soul-jazz classic that marked Harris as one of the very few sax players to develop a distinctive, personal style on the electric sax that was also unique to the instrument's capabilities. A re-recorded version of "Listen Here" (originally featured on The Tender Storm) gave Harris a second major hit single; it just barely missed the R&B Top Ten, which helped send the LP to number two on the R&B album charts. Subsequent follow-ups — Plug Me In, High Voltage, the Echoplex-heavy Silver Cycles — found Harris' electrified brand of jazz-funk selling well on both the jazz and R&B charts over 1968-69, regularly making the Top Five on the former and the Top 40 on the latter. In 1969, Harris joined pianist Les McCann's regular group at the Montreux Jazz Festival; despite a complete lack of rehearsal time together, the onstage chemistry was immediate, and the gig was released as the LP Swiss Movement, credited to McCann and Harris. Paced by the hit singles "Compared to What" and "Cold Duck Time," Swiss Movement hit number two on the R&B charts en route to becoming one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time. Meanwhile, Harris' solo career continued apace, with increasingly playful — and sometimes bizarre — experiments. 1970's Come On Down was a more jazz-rock-flavored session that found Harris singing into his horn through its effects unit. He also began to experiment with new horns, inventing such instruments as the reed trumpet (basically a trumpet fitted with a sax mouthpiece; heard most notably on 1970's Free Speech and 1971's Instant Death) and the saxobone (a sax with a trombone mouthpiece). 1972's Eddie Harris Sings the Blues further explored the concept of singing through his horn, with often strange results; the following year's E.H. in the U.K. took him to Britain to record jazz-rock with Steve Winwood, Albert Lee, Jeff Beck, and others. The spacy, heavily electronic Is It In, issued in 1974, ranked as one of his most creatively successful

experiments. Subsequent albums like I Need Some Money, Bad Luck Is All I Have, and That Is Why You're Overweight were all over the musical map, but favored comic R&B-style vocal numbers, now without the electronic effects. Harris' sales had been slipping, but were still fairly strong for a jazz artist, up until 1975's The Reason Why I'm Talking Shit, which abandoned humorous songs in favor of full-on, adults-only stand-up comedy. Only a few bits of music were interspersed between all the nightclub patter, and the results were so left-field that Harris' audience stayed away in droves. Thus, 1976's wide-ranging How Can You Live Like That? was largely ignored, and Harris parted ways with Atlantic by 1978. Harris went to RCA for two albums recorded in 1979, the limp fusion outing I'm Tired of Driving and the completely solo Playing With Myself, on which Harris dubbed horn solos over his own piano work. He didn't stay for long; over the course of the ‘80s and ‘90s, he recorded mostly for small labels like Steeple Chase, Enja, Timeless, and Flying Heart, among others. These albums found Harris returning to traditional hard bop, generally in acoustic quartet settings. He made his final studio recordings in the mid-‘90s, and was forced to stop performing by the combined effects of bone cancer and kidney disease. He passed away in Los Angeles on November 5, 1996, about six months after a final concert engagement in his hometown of Chicago.

Exodus to Jazz Artist Eddie Harris Album Title Exodus to Jazz Date of Release Jan 17, 1961 (recording) AMG Rating 5 *Genre Jazz Time 40: One of the biggest hit jazz LPs of the post-rock & roll era, Eddie Harris' Exodus to Jazz seemed to come completely out of left field. It was the debut album by a previously unknown artist from an under-publicized scene in Chicago, and it was released on the primarily R&B-oriented Vee Jay label, which had originally signed Harris as a pianist, not a tenor saxophonist. The impetus for its breakthrough was equally unlikely; Harris adapted Ernest Gold's stately, somber theme from the Biblical film Exodus — which had been covered for an easy listening hit by Ferrante & Teicher — and made it into a laid-back jazz tune. Edited down to 45-rpm length, it became a smash, reaching the pop Top 40 and pushing the album to the upper reaches of the charts — a nearly unprecedented feat for instrumental jazz in 1961. Its stunning popularity sent jazz critics into a tizzy — after all, if it was that accessible to a mass audience, there just had to be something wrong with it, didn't there? In hindsight, the answer is no. Exodus to Jazz is full of concise, easy-swinging grooves that maintain the appealing quality of the strikingly reimagined title track (particularly Harris' four originals). Far removed from his later, funkier days, Harris plays a cool-toned tenor who owes his biggest debt to Stan Getz's bop recordings, though there are touches of soul-jazz as well. He's no slouch technically, either; he plays so far — and so sweetly — in the upper register of his horn that some still mistakenly believe he was using an alto sax on parts of the record. Exodus to Jazz paved the way for numerous other crossover successes during the '60s (many in the soul-jazz realm), and while that may not be a credibility-boosting trend to start, the music still speaks for itself. — Steve Huey 1. Exodus (Gold) - 6:38 2. Alicia (Harris) - 3:39 3. Gone Home (Harris) - 2:53 4. A.T.C. (Harris) - 5:31 5. A.M. Blues (Harris/Pickens) - 2:45 6. Little Girl Blue (Hart/Rodgers) - 3:21 7. Velocity (Harris) - 5:08 8. W.P. (Pickens) - 4:31

A18 La Juanda - Amos GarrettGeoff & Amos - A Fine Catch (1978)

Amos is one of those 60s folk revival people. He frequently appears with Geoff Muldaur, as on this album. I have the vinyl, which was the source of this track. Oddly, when I looked it up on AMG, this track was not listed. I added it and renumbered the tracks after. This is a Chuck Berry tune, and I think Garrett does a nice job with it.

Detroit native Amos Garrett began working as a professional guitarist north of the border in Toronto. There he played with the Dirty Shames, a folk jug band, before moving on to the country-rock-oriented Great Speckled Bird at the invitation of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. Maria Muldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis" features his guitar playing, as does Anne Murray's "Snowbird." Other artists who have utilized his talent include Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris, Jessie Winchester, Paul Butterfield, Hungry Chuck, and Geoff Muldaur. His studio work led him to California, and he continued to record with other artists. Later, with the Eh Team backing him, Garrett also put out his own recordings, more than half a dozen on Stony Plain Records. In 1989, his album The Return of the Formerly Brothers, garnered a Juno Award. The release also featured Gene Taylor (formerly of Downchild, the Blasters, and later with the Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Doug Sahm of the Texas Tornados. Garrett and the Eh Team continue to play nightspots in Canada, where he resides in Alberta. He toured Japan in 1990, with stops in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo. The concerts there found their way onto a live album.

Geoff & Amos

Artist Geoff Muldaur w/ Amos Garrett Album Title Geoff & Amos Date of Release Dec 1978 (release) AMG Rating 3 *Genre Folk Time 29:50 AMG REVIEW: On this album, two artists who were prominent in folk music during the '60s sing and play a variety of lively material. — All Music Guide 1. My Tears Came Rolling Down (Davis) - 3:52 2. River's Invitation (Mayfield) - 3:16 3. Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28, No. 4 (Chopin) - 2:38 4. Sloopy Drunk (Traditional) - 3:15 5. La Juanda (Chuck Berry) – 4:15 6. Carolina Sunshine Girl (Rogers) - 3:13 7. Washboard Blues (Carmichael) - 3:19 8. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Tchaikovsky) - 1:36 9. Chicken Stew, Pt. 1 (Muldaur) - 3:46 10. Dance of the Coloured Elves (Muldaur) - 2:32 11. Beautiful Isle of Somewhere (Fearis/Pounds) - 2:23

A19 Paper Wings - Gillian WelchRevival (1996)

I only had to hear Gillian once and I was in love. How can someone so young sound so old? She will be a repeat performer on Naweedna CDs.

A young singer/songwriter armed with a voice and sensibility far beyond her years, Gillian Welch drew widespread acclaim for her deft, evocative resurrection of the musical styles most commonly associated with rural Appalachia of the early 20th century. Welch was born in 1968 in California and grew up in West Los Angeles, where her parents scored the music for the comedy program The Carol Burnett Show. It was as a child that she became fascinated by bluegrass and early country music, in particular the work of the Stanley Brothers, the Delmore Brothers, and the Carter Family.

In the early '90s, Welch attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, where she began performing her own material, as well as traditional country and bluegrass songs, as part of a duo with fellow student David Rawlings. After honing their skills in local open mike showcases, the duo began performing regularly throughout the country. While opening for Peter Rowan in Nashville, they were spotted by musician and producer T-Bone Burnett, who helped Welch and Rawlings land a record deal. With Burnett producing, they cut 1996's starkly beautiful Revival, an album split between bare-bones duo performances — some even recorded in mono to capture a bygone sound — and more full-bodied cuts featuring legendary session men like guitarist James Burton, upright bassist Roy Huskey Jr., and drummers Buddy Harmon and Jim Keltner.

Her sophomore album, Hell Among the Yearlings, followed in 1998. The years following her second release found Welch involved in several soundtracks (O Brother Where Art Thou, Songcatcher), tribute albums (Songs of Dwight Yoakam: Will Sing for Food, Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons), and guest spots on other artists' albums (Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker, Mark Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia). Following the success of O Brother, Welch and Rawlings found themselves in the center of a traditional American folk revival and released their third album, Time (The Revelator), in mid-2001. Steady touring, guest appearances, and the release of a DVD (he Revelator Collection) kept the pair busy, but in 2003 they found time to record Soul Journey, their second release on their own Acony Records label.

Revival Artist Gillian Welch Album Title Revival Date of Release Apr 1996 AMG Rating 4.5 * checkedGenre Folk Time 41:21 After looking at the cover of Gillian Welch's debut album, Revival, and listening to the first two cuts, "Orphan Girl" and "Annabelle," you'd be tempted to imagine that Welch somehow stumbled into a time machine after cutting some tunes at the 1927 Bristol, TN, sessions and was transported to a recording studio in Los Angeles in 1996, where T-Bone Burnett was on hand and had the presence of mind to roll tape. It takes a closer listen to Revival to realize that Welch and her partner, David Rawlings, are not mere revivalists in the old-timey style; Welch's debts to artists of the past are obvious and clearly acknowledged, but there's a maturity, intelligence, and keen eye for detail in Welch's songs you wouldn't expect from someone simply trying to ape the Carter Family. What's more, the subtle, blues-shot menace of "Pass You By" and "Tear My Stillhouse Down" and the jazzy undertow of "Paper Wings" point to the breadth and depth of Welch's musical vision, which encompasses

a spectrum broader than the rural musics of the 1920s and '30s. If Welch and Rawlings often reach to sounds and styles of the past on Revival, they do so with an unaffected sincerity and natural grace, and the album's best moments ("Orphan Girl," "One More Dollar," and "Tear My Stillhouse Down") are the work of a gifted singer and songwriter who knows how to communicate the sounds of her heart and soul to others, and producer Burnett gets those sounds on tape with unobtrusive skill. A superb debut. — Mark Deming 1. Orphan Girl (Welch) - 3:57 2. Annabelle (Welch) - 4:03 3. Pass You By (Rawlings/Welch) - 3:57 4. Barroom Girls (Rawlings/Welch) - 4:14 5. One More Dollar (Rawlings/Welch) - 4:34 6. By the Mark (Rawlings/Welch) - 3:40 7. Paper Wings (Rawlings/Welch) - 3:57 8. Tear My Stillhouse Down (Welch) - 4:32 9. Acony Bell (Rawlings/Welch) - 3:06 10. Only One and Only (Rawlings/Welch) - 5:33

A20 Railroad Worksong - Notting HillbilliesMissing Presumed Having A Good Time (1990)

I know exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard this track. I immediately went to the computer and added it to the Naweedna list. Later, I discovered the plaintiff guitar sound was “borrowed” from Jim Croce, who probably “borrowed” it from someone else. Whatever, the Croce and Notting Hillbillies tracks are very similar. I’ve put the Croce track on Naweedna 2003, so you can compare for yourself.

by Jason Ankeny After the mega-platinum success of Dire Straits' 1984 Brothers in Arms LP, the group's frontman, guitarist extraordinaire Mark Knopfler, opted to temporarily shift gears by forming the Notting Hillbillies, a one-off country side project. Among the band's first recruits was Steve Phillips, a fellow guitar player whom Knopfler had first met in Yorkshire in 1968 when both men interviewed a local country and blues musician (also named, curiously enough, Steve Phillips). Soon, the two aspiring journalists formed the two-man Duolian String Pickers and continued performing together until Knopfler entered college in 1970; after graduating three years later, he moved to London to start Dire Straits.

Phillips, in the meantime, formed a rockabilly outfit, the Steve Phillips Juke Band. In 1976, he met Brendan Croker, a onetime member of the Juke Band, and the pair began performing as Nev and Norris. By 1980, Phillips had left the music scene to focus on an art career, leaving Croker to form Five O'Clock Shadow. In 1986, Knopfler came calling, and in May of that year the Notting Hillbillies played their first gig at a tiny Leeds club with a lineup featuring Knopfler, Phillips, and Croker as well as drummer Ed Bicknell (moonlighting from his day job as Dire Straits' manager), guitarist Guy Fletcher, pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin, and Croker's fellow Five O'Clock Shadow Marcus Cliff on bass. A tour followed, although the group's lone album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time, did not appear until 1990, at which point the members of the Notting Hillbillies had already returned to their main projects. Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time Artist The Notting Hillbillies Album Title Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time Date of Release 1990 (release) AMG Rating 4 *Genre Rock Time 40:19 On hiatus from Dire Straits, guitarist Mark Knopfler joined with Brendan Croker, Steve Phillips, and Guy Fletcher for 1990's Missing: Presumed Having a Good Time. The result is a low-key, joyous run-through of mostly traditional, blues-based songs with a handful of originals. Despite the high-profile presence of Knopfler, The Notting Hillbillies succeed in sounding like a band with Knopfler often taking a backseat to his bandmates, although he does sing lead on the lovely "Your Own Sweet Way." The styles range from the gorgeous harmonies of "Railroad Worksong" with some mournful guitar from Knopfler, to the '50s-style rock ballad "Bewildered," to the breezy, tropical-flavored "One Way Gal." Missing: Presumed Having a Good Time is a delightful record that doesn't overstay its welcome. — Tom Demalon 1. Railroad Worksong - 5:27 2. Bewildered (Powell/Whitcup) - 2:35 3. Your Own Sweet Way (Knopfler) - 4:30 4. Run Me Down - 2:23 5. One Way Gal - 3:08 6. Blues Stay Away from Me (Delmore/Delmore/Glover/Raney) - 3:49 7. Will You Miss Me? (Phillips) - 3:49 8. Please Baby - 3:49 9. Weapon of Prayer (Louvin/Louvin) - 3:08

10. That's Where I Belong (Croker) - 2:50 11. Feel Like Going Home (Rich) - 4:51

A21 Red Hot - Marcia BallGatorhytms (1989)

We got this from Bon ‘n’ Char Wilkinson. They sent us a bunch of CDs and this was included. I immediately picked this track as a Naweedna selection. There will likely be more from Ms Ball.

Pianist and singer/songwriter Marcia Ball is a living example of how East Texas blues meets southwest Louisiana swamp rock. Ball was born March 20, 1949, in Orange, TX, but grew up across the border in Vinton, LA. That town is squarely in the heart of "the Texas triangle," an area that includes portions of both states and that has produced some of the country's greatest blues talents: Janis Joplin, Johnny and Edgar Winter, Queen Ida Guillory, Lonnie Brooks, Zachary Richard, Clifton Chenier, and Kenny Neal, to name a few. Ball's earliest awareness of blues came over the radio, where she heard people like Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, and Etta James, all of whom she now credits as influences. She began playing piano at age five, learning from her grandmother and aunt and also taking formal lessons from a teacher.

Ball entered Louisiana State University in the late '60s as an English major. In college, she played in the psychedelic rock & roll band Gum. In 1970, Ball and her first husband were headed West in their car to San Francisco, but the car needed repairs in Austin, where they had stopped off to visit one of their former bandmates. After hearing, seeing, and tasting some of the music, sights, and food in Austin, the two decided to stay there. Ball has been based in Austin ever since.

Her piano style, which mixes equal parts boogie woogie with zydeco and Louisiana swamp rock, is best-exemplified on her series of excellent recordings for the Rounder label. They include Soulful Dress (1983), Hot Tamale Baby (1985), Gatorhythms (1989), and Blue House (1994). Also worthy of checking out is her collaboration with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton on Antone's Dreams Come True (1990). Ball, like her peer Strehli, is an educated business woman fully aware of all the realities of the record business. Ball never records until she feels she's got a batch of top-notch, quality songs. Most of the songs on her albums are her own creations, so songwriting is a big part of her job description.

Although Ball is a splendid piano player and a more than adequate vocalist, "the songwriting process is the most fulfilling part of the whole deal for me," she said in a 1994 interview, "so I always keep my ears and eyes open for things I might hear or see....I like my songs to go back to blues in some fashion." As much a student of the music as she is a player, some of Ball's albums include covers of material by O.V. Wright, Dr. John, Joe Ely, Clifton Chenier, and Shirley & Lee.

In the late '90s, Ball released her final discs to be released under the Rounder banner, Let Me Play With Your Poodle (1997) and Sing It! (1998). The latter featured Ball with Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson utilizing both solo and combined energy that generated much exposure for all three women as it was nominated for both a Grammy and a W.C. Handy Blues Award as Best Contemporary Blues Album. Ironically, while both of Ball's final Rounder releases were critically acclaimed, she signed with Alligator Records in 2000 and released her first album for the label, Presumed Innocent, in 2001. Ball, who's established herself as an important player in the club scenes in both New Orleans and Austin, continues to work at festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. She followed up her debut recording for Alligator with the similarly fine So Many Rivers in 2003.

Gatorhythms Artist Marcia Ball Album Title Gatorhythms Date of Release 1989 (release) AMG Rating 4.5 * checkedGenre Blues Time 34:11 Marcia Ball explored R&B and honky-tonk country on this album, keeping her blues chops in order while expanding her repertoire. She included a pair of tunes by country vocalist Lee Roy Parnell, "What's A Girl To Do" and "Red Hot," doing both in a feisty, attacking fashion. She also was challenging and upbeat on Dr. John's "How You Carry On" and "Find Another Fool." Her third Rounder album was her most entertaining and dynamic, as Ball became less of an interpreter and more of an individualist. — Ron Wynn 1. How You Carry On (David/Rebennack) - 2:42 2. La Ti Da (Ball) - 3:42 3. The Power of Love (Ball) - 4:16 4. Mobile (Ball) - 3:10 5. Find Another Fool (Ball) - 4:20 6. Mama's Cooking (Ball/Bruton) - 3:03 7. What's a Girl to Do? (Moore/Parnell) - 3:28 8. Daddy Said (Ball) - 2:43

9. You'll Come Around (Ball) - 3:54 10. Red Hot (Moore/Parnell) - 3:11

A22 Am I Blue - Dinah WashingtonDownload (1960s)

This is classic Dinah, at least as far as I know. I had known Dinah’s pop tunes from my youth, but really got into her stuff just after she died, in 1966 I believe. The local radio station played a day-long retrospective, and the next day I went out and bought an armful of Dinah’s albums. This track comes from one of them. There will be more Dinah in our collective futures. Oh, I believe she was married to Dick “Nightrain” Lane, a defensive back for the Detroit Lions back in the 60s.

Dinah Washington was at once one of the most beloved and controversial singers of the mid-20th century — beloved to her fans, devotees, and fellow singers; controversial to critics who still accuse her of selling out her art to commerce and bad taste. Her principal sin, apparently, was to cultivate a distinctive vocal style that was at home in all kinds of music, be it R&B, blues, jazz, middle of the road pop — and she probably would have made a fine gospel or country singer had she the time. Hers was a gritty, salty, high-pitched voice, marked by absolute clarity of diction and clipped, bluesy phrasing. Washington's personal life was turbulent, with seven marriages behind her, and her interpretations showed it, for she displayed a tough, totally unsentimental, yet still gripping hold on the universal subject of lost love. She has had a huge influence on R&B and jazz singers who have followed in her wake, notably Nancy Wilson, Esther Phillips, and Diane Schuur, and her music is abundantly available nowadays via the huge seven-volume series The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury.

Born Ruth Lee Jones, she moved to Chicago at age three and was raised in a world of gospel, playing the piano and directing her church choir. At 15, after winning an amateur contest at the Regal Theatre, she began performing in nightclubs as a pianist and singer, opening at the Garrick Bar in 1942. Talent manager Joe Glaser heard her there and recommended her to Lionel Hampton, who asked her to join his band. Hampton says that it was he who gave Ruth Jones the name Dinah Washington, although other sources claim it was Glaser or the manager of the Garrick Bar. In any case, she stayed with Hampton from 1943 to 1946 and made her recording debut for Keynote at the end of 1943 in a blues session organized by Leonard Feather with a sextet drawn from the Hampton band. With Feather's "Evil Gal Blues" as her first hit, the records took off, and by the time she left Hampton to go solo, Washington was already an R&B headliner. Signing with the young Mercury label, Washington produced an enviable string of Top Ten hits on the R&B charts from 1948 to 1955, singing blues, standards, novelties, pop covers, even Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." She also recorded many straight jazz sessions with big bands and small combos, most memorably with Clifford Brown on Dinah Jams but also with Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, Ben Webster, Wynton Kelly, and the young Joe Zawinul (who was her regular accompanist for a couple of years).

In 1959, Washington made a sudden breakthrough into the mainstream pop market with "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes," a revival of a Dorsey Brothers hit set to a Latin American bolero tune. For the rest of her career, she would concentrate on singing ballads backed by lush orchestrations for Mercury and Roulette, a formula similar to that of another R&B-based singer at that time, Ray Charles, and one that drew plenty of fire from critics even though her basic vocal approach had not changed one iota. Although her later records could be as banal as any easy listening dross of the period, there are gems to be found, like Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain," which has a beautiful, bluesy Ernie Wilkins chart conducted by Quincy Jones. Struggling with a weight problem, Washington died of an accidental overdose of diet pills mixed with alcohol at the tragically early age of 39, still in peak voice, still singing the blues in an L.A. club only two weeks before the end.

A23 Pata Pata - Mariam MakebaHomeland (2000)

I first heard Makeba during the folk revival of the 60s. There is an especially good track on one of the Northern Exposure CDs. This one comes from a CD I found in Milne Library. It is the best of the CD and only slightly below Emabhaceni from the Northern CD.

Following a three decade long exile, Miriam Makeba's return to South Africa was celebrated as though a queen was restoring her monarchy. The response was fitting as Makeba remains the most important female vocalist to emerge out of South Africa. Hailed as The Empress Of African Song and Mama Africa, Makeba helped bring African music to a global audience in the 1960s. Nearly five decades after her debut with the Manhattan Brothers, she continues to play an important role in the growth of African music.

Makeba's life has been consistently marked by struggle. As the daughter of a sangoma, a mystical traditional healer of the Xhosa tribe, she spent six months of her birth year in jail with her mother. Gifted with a dynamic vocal tone, Makeba recorded her debut single, "Lakutshona Llange," as a member of the Manhattan Brothers in 1953. Although she left to form an all-female group named the Skylarks in 1958, she reunited with members of the Manhattan Brothers when she accepted the lead female role in a musical version of King Kong, which told the tragic tale of Black African boxer, Ezekiel "King Kong" Dlamani, in 1959. The same year, she began an 18 month tour of South Africa with Alf Herbert's musical extravaganza, African Jazz And Variety, and made an

appearance in a documentary film, Come Back Africa. These successes led to invitations to perform in Europe and the United States.

Makeba was embraced by the African-American community. "Pata Pata," Makeba's signature tune was written by Dorothy Masuka and recorded in South Africa in 1956 before eventually becoming a major hit in the U.S. in 1967. In late-1959, she performed for four weeks at the Village Vanguard in New York. She later made a guest appearance during Harry Belafonte's ground-breaking concerts at Carnegie Hall. A double-album of the event, released in 1960, received a Grammy award. Makeba has continued to periodically renew her collaboration with Belafonte, releasing an album in 1972 titled Miriam Makeba and Harry Belafonte. Makeba then made a special guest appearance at the Harry Belafonte Tribute at Madison Square Garden in 1997.

Makeba's successes as a vocalist were also balanced by her outspoken views about apartheid. In 1960, the government of South Africa revoked her citizenship. For the next thirty years, she was forced to be a 'citizen of the world.' Makeba received the Dag Hammerskjold Peace Prize in 1968. After marrying radical Black activist Stokely Carmichael, many of her concerts were cancelled, and her recording contract with RCA was dropped, resulting in even more problems for the artist. She eventually relocated to Guinea at the invitation of president Sekou Toure and agreed to serve as Guinea's delegate to the United Nations. In 1964 and 1975, she addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on the horrors of apartheid.

Makeba remained active as a musician over the years. In 1975, she recorded an album, A Promise, with Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Arthur Adams, and David T. Walker of the Crusaders. Makeba joined Paul Simon and South Africa 's Ladysmith Black Mambazo during their world-wide Graceland tour in 1987 and 1988. Two years later, she joined Odetta and Nina Simone for the One Nation tour.

Makeba published her autobiography, Miriam: My Story, in English in 1988 and had it subsequently translated and published in German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. Following Nelson Mandela's release from prison, Makeba returned to South Africa in December 1990. She performed her first concert in her homeland in thirty years in April 1991. Makeba appeared in South African award-winning musical, Sarafina, in the role of Sarafina's mother in 1992. Two years later, she reunited with her first husband, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, for the Tour Of Hope tour. In 1995, Makeba formed a charity organization to raise funds to help protect the women of South Africa. The same year, she performed at the Vatican's Nevi Hall during a world-wide broadcasted show, Christmas In The Vatican. Makeba's first studio album in a decade, Homeland, was released in 2000.

Homeland Artist Miriam Makeba Album Title Homeland Date of Release Apr 25, 2000 AMG Rating 3 *Genre World Time 42:12 Now back home in South Africa, Makeba hadn't done much recording in the 1990s prior to this release, so Homeland amounts to a way of introducing herself to new audiences and updating older fans. Alas, the voice of the mighty Makeba, who was in her late sixties when this CD was recorded, frequently sounds worn and quavery (these sessions may have been an aberration, for she could still summon much of her spine-chilling power of old at the Hollywood Bowl in summer 2000). But for those who followed her turbulent career through the struggles over apartheid, it will be heartwarming to learn that she has finally found some measure of peace in her life. The English lyrics (others are sung in Zulu) sing about coming home, healing broken hearts, living for love, and children. In the album's most touching gesture, Makeba's granddaughter, Zenzi Lee, aimed the lyrics of the title track right at her; the dauntless freedom fighter sounds so glad to be home. As a memory refresher, you also get "Pata Pata 2000," yet another retooled edition of her international hit from 1967, not radically different from previous versions except that Lee lends a hand with the lead vocals. The backing tracks are mostly low-key, controlled, contemporary in feeling; they don't ignite, but they don't get in the South African diva's way either. — Richard Ginell 1. Masakhane (Mbutho) - 4:43 2. Amaliya (Kanza/Susse) - 3:14 3. Pata Pata 2000 performed by Makeba / Zenzi Lee - 3:51 4. 'Cause We Live for Love (Gordon/Samson) - 4:37 5. Liwa Wechi (Makeba) - 3:31 6. Lindelani (Kanza/Starr) - 3:16 7. Homeland (Kanza/Lee) - 4:07 8. Umhome (Makeba) - 5:10 9. Africa Is Where My Heart Lies (Moses/Samson) - 4:43 10. In Time (Samson) - 5:00

A24 Jose Quervo You Are A Friend - Shelly WestDownload (1983)

We first heard this while driving around west TX at the end of the one and only January trip we took with the department. We were on our way back to El Paso to catch a plan home. We were in the van I had been driving the whole two-week trip. I had established a rule for the students in the van: If I can’t sleep, you can’t sleep. Since this was the last day, I allowed them to sleep. When this tune came on the radio, however, I turned it up for all to enjoy. It seemed most appropriate. But I think they all slept through it, so I decided to put it on this CD so some of them can finally hear it. Here you go, friends of mine: JenM, JenO, Kurt, AJ.

The daughter of the legendary Dottie West and her first husband Bill, a noted steel guitar player, Shelly West was a popular singer of pop-flavored country tunes during the 1980s.

Shelly got her start at age 17 touring with her mother's show; she started out singing backup, but was soon given lead vocal chores. While touring, she fell in love with her mother's lead guitarist Allen Frizzell; they married and left the band in 1977 to move to California. Allen was the little brother of Lefty and David Frizzell, the latter of whom had a regular gig in a neighboring town. The newlyweds soon joined his band and played with him for a few months. They toured the Southwest, and upon their return, David began looking for a record label. A demo of the duet "Lovin' on Borrowed Time" featuring West and her brother-in-law impressed record producer Snuff Garrett, who signed them both to Casablanca West. Unfortunately, Polygram took over the label and dumped the duo, who unsuccessfully tried their luck in Nashville. Garrett still believed the two had potential and eventually played their song and its follow-up "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" to actor Clint Eastwood, who had just founded his own record label, Viva. Eastwood liked the latter song and added it to his film Any Which Way You Can, and the song hit number one on the country charts in early 1981.

Their next four songs, beginning with the Top Ten hit "A Texas State of Mind," were also successful, and the duo's considerable success continued through 1985, when they split up. (They cited a lack of good duet songs as their main reason; the fact that West and her husband had just divorced may also have been a factor). West made her solo debut in 1983 with "Jose Cuervo," which hit number one and provided a sales boost for the tequila company. Her solo follow-up "Flight 309 to Tennessee" made the Top Five. Between 1984 and 1986, West had a string of solo successes that included "Somebody Buy This Cowgirl a Beer" and "Don't Make Me Wait on the Moon." Later that year she had one more mid-range hit, "Love Don't Come Any Better Than This," and then faded from the charts. She basically stopped recording after remarrying, but did reunite with David Frizzell for a few shows in the late '80s.