Gillian Welch: American Gothic

Gillian Welch looks as if she just walked out of Grant Woods' 1930's painting "American Gothic". Traditional, gloomy, haunted and tragic. The same words that can be used to describe her music. Her  ballads are reminiscent of early and mid 1930's songs by the Carter Family, the Stanley Brothers and the Louvin Brothers, by which she was heavily influenced.  She, however, was able to give a contemporary twist to this music, making it sound timeless. 

Grant Wood - American Gothic 

Like many others, I learned about Gillian Welch through the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" Soundtrack. This 2002 Grammy awarded album of the year,  included three songs by Gillian Welch. She even made a short cameo appearance in the film. Gillian Welch started singing professionally with her singing partner David Rawlings. They both moved to Nashville in the 1990's and were able to get the same manager that Alison Krauss had at the time. She was introduced to music producer T-Bone Burnett and their first album achieved critical acclaim. In the meantime she has released 6 albums, 3 of which were from her own record label Acony Records.

Wrecking Ball, I'll Fly Away, and Scarlett Town are some of my favorite Gillian Welch songs. It's perfect music to listen too when you're feeling down or lonesome, or when you're in any other mood. Click on the images below to listen to them, I hope you like it as much as I do.

You may also like:
My love letter to Alison Krauss
A History of Bluegrass (Part 1)
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Gillian Welch and David Rawlings - Wrecking Ball 

Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch - I'll Fly Away 

Gillian Welch - Scarlett Town 

"The Greatest Backporch Shows Ever"

If you like traditional "backporch music" you may really like the Transatlantic Sessions series. It's a BBC production in which American, Irish and British musicians get together and sing the most beautiful folk and country songs. In the mid 1990's the first season aired and included such great names as Emmylou Harris, Iris Dement and John Martyn. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch it until I discovered the series many years later on Youtube.  In the meantime several series had followed the first one. 

In 2007 they decided to record another series and once again were able to get some of the finest musicians to join them (Ricky Scaggs, Roseanne Cash and James Taylor among others).  Last year they recorded the 5th series, and once again were able to produce something magnificent. The great part of the series are the many duets by musicians that have never sung together before, but are able to make your heart melt. Below are some of my favorite songs from different series.  

John Martyn & Kathy Matea - May You Never

Iris Dement & Emmylou Harris - Our Town

Amos Lee, Sarah Jarosz & Alison Krauss - Clear Blue Eyes

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A Few Very Surprising Duets 

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Best Bob Dylan Covers (and why I believe Dylan is a great musician, but not a great singer)

There are some great musicians whose music I love, but who aren't necessarily great singers. To me, Bob Dylan is one of them. He wrote many great songs, but I usually like other people's versions of his songs better. You can definitely sense that he's really feeling the song, but somehow I just don't like his voice very much (I hope I haven't offended anyone here).

The Indigo Girls are quite popular in the US, but are unfortuntately not widely known outside of the US. It's a shame, because these two singers are great in harmony singing and have produced several very good cd's. On one of these cd's, they sing their own version of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" together with Joan Baez.  Joan Baez is Bob Dylan's ex-girlfriend and the one who helped Bob Dylan to achieve national fame. This song was written by Bob Dylan in 1962, and has since been covered by many musicians. This is my favorite cover of the song .

Indigo Girls and Joan Baez - "Don't Think Twice It's Alright"

Another great singer who actually did an entire album of Bob Dylan covers is Odetta. Odetta was another big name in the early 1960's. At the time African Americans were fighting for equal opportunities in the US, Odetta was considered to be "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". She had already  been singing since 1944, and was an inspiration for Bob Dylan and many other artists at the time. Her cd "Odetta Sings Dylan" includes several of Dylan's best songs. My favorite cover on this cd is "With God on Our Side". (Take some time to listen to the lyrics, they're really good).

Odetta - "With God On Our Side"

Thank god, Bob Dylan didn't just influence people in the 1960's. To show that his music is still considered to be great today, I'll include Adele's version of "Make You Feel My Love". Once again, I believe that her rendition of the song is much better Dylan's version. But I'm sure many of the Bob Dylan fans will disagree with me on that.

Adele - "Make You Feel My Love"

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A Few Very Suprising Duets

I like to hear duets by singers who are known in completely different genres. This blog post is about those duets. I discovered them by spending endless hours on You Tube. The first one was recorded at Tom Jones' own tv show "This Is Tom Jones". The show ran from 1969 to 1971 and included many big names in music history (Dusty Springfield, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tony Benett and Ray Charles, to name but a few). In the third and final season of the show Ella Fitzgerald sang a great (and quite surprising) duet with Tom Jones. Here is "Sunny".

Tom Jones & Ella Fitzgerald - "Sunny"

The following song was recorded at the Transatlantic Sessions. This is a BBC music special in which Irish, British and American (usually folk) singers get together and make great music. The first session was recorded in the early 1990's and there have been 5 sessions since. It is really worth watching, especially if you like folk music. In this song you will see Iris DeMent, Michelle Wright, and the Irish singer Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh sing the traditional country song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken".

Iris DeMent, Michelle Wright & Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh - "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

I have already expressed my love for Alison Krauss in this blog. To show her diversity and to show that she is not just a real good country and bluegrass singer, I will show this duet with Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant. They actually recorded an entire CD together in 2007 called "Raising Sands". This song is the first one on this CD, and I personally think it is also the best one. Here they are at Jools Holland singing "Rich Woman". 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Rich Woman"

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The First Lady of Song

The Very First Time I Heard These Songs

Did you ever hear a song for the very first time, and remember the feeling that song gave you for many years after? This blog is about those songs.

I grew up listening to Tina Turner. My father was a huge fan. This was back in the 1980's when her songs "Private Dancer", "Tonight" and "Simply the Best" were high up in the charts. Several years later I saw the biopic "What's Love Got To do With It" for the first time. In it there is a scene in which Tina Turner is standing in a studio singing "River Deep Mountain High". It was the first time Ike wasn't by her side. I remember watching this movie by myself. It was one of those moments when the world seemed to stand still. Just me and this amazing singer, singing one of the best songs ever.

Tina Tuner - "River Deep Mountain High"

Somewhere in the year 2002 I was sitting in my living room, watching some mindless tv. While I'm surfing through the channels I come across a music video from this new artist, singing in a style and with a voice I hadn't heard before. Unfortunately, I had to wait untill the end to discover who this woman was. The very same day I went to the nearest music store and bought her cd. It was Norah Jones singing "Don't Know Why". I still listen to her debut album every now and then.

Norah Jones - "Don't Know Why"

I have been a fan of Adele since her debut album 19. I think she is great and rightly deserves to stand among the greatest artists of this time. "Rolling in the Deep" one of her latest songs is, according to me, the best song that was made in the last two years. I believe I heard it the very same day the video was first shown on MTV. The video in combination with the song is just great. I have nothing else to add to this. Enjoy.

Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"

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A History of Bluegrass ( Part 2)

By the time the folk music scene regained its popularity in the late 1950's, most famous Bluegrass singers  had lost their contracts and radio's stopped playing their music. Many folk singers, however, were heavily influenced by the Bluegrass style, and decided to bring this music back to the public. Moreover, in 1962 Flatt & Scrugs were asked to sing the theme song for the popular TV show The Beverly Hillbillies ("The Ballad of Jed Clampett"). They had no idea that by doing this, people would  forever identify bluegrass music with trashy white people. 

This revival of Bluegrass during the 1960's allowed some great old time Bluegrass singers to display their music to an entirely new audience. The Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe were among those. The Louvin Brothers were another brother duo that regained popularity, be it on a small scale. Although they sing a number of different musical styles, I personally like the Bluegrass versions of their songs best. "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby" is one of my (and my father in laws') favorites. 

From the late 1960's until the late 1990's Bluegrass continued to be played, although it was largely overshadowed by other more popular music styles. During this time several country singers recorded Bluegrass albums (listen to Dolly Parton's Bluegrass Collection). The real revival, however, came in the early 2000's with the soundtrack of the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou". Some of the biggest stars in Bluegrass and Country music can be heared on this cd (Ralph Stanley, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and the Carter Family). It also includes some bands which didn't achieve national fame yet, but rightfully did through this album (The Whites and the Cox Family). Thankfully, these artists didn't stop after the Oh Brother Soundtrack. The cd compilation "Down From the Mountain" is another one of my Bluegrass favorites, and includes many of the artists that are included in the Oh Brother Soundtrack.

Below you will find "I'm A Man of Constant Sorrow", the old time tradional folk song which Ralph Stanley brought to national fame. This is actually not really George Clooney singing, but Dan Triminsky, a musician in Alison Krauss' Union Station. Notice the woman at the beginning who's asking for the Soggy Bottom Boys, that's Gillian Welch :-). More about her will follow soon.

The Soggy Bottom Boys - "I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow"

My love letter to Alison Krauss

I love Alison Krauss! Really I do. I think her talent is beyond this world. (And that's besides the fact that she has won 26 grammy's up until now. More than any other female artist and after Georg Solti and Quincy Jones, the third person with the most Grammy's in this entire world!)

Alison Krauss was actually one of the people who helped me broaden my musical horizon. Back in 2003 (when I didn't even now Alison Krauss excisted) I was downloading some songs. One of those songs was "Maybe", which I thought was Enrique Iglesias' version, but, when I started listening I soon discoverd that this song was a million times better than the song I actually wanted to download. I saw that it was sung by some woman named Alison Krauss and I immideately started downloading more songs by her. This is how I not only discovered the enormous talent that is Alison, but I also discovered this musical genre that's called bluegrass. And I loved it!

If there are some American readers out there you might be surprised that I never heard of Blugrass before 2003. But I grew up in small country called the Netherlands, and unfortunately, no one ever listens to Bluegrass here.

Alison Krauss started her musical career at a very young age as a fiddle prodigy. In the eighties she met with a bluegrass band called Union Station, and they have been together ever since. If you are not already familiar with Alison Krauss I will present you "Heaven's Bright Shore", "Everytime You Say Goodbye" and "Oh, Atlanta", songs you really ought to listen to. You will notice that Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS) complement each other perfectly. 

Alison Krauss and Union Station - "Heaven's Bright Shore"

Alison Krauss and Union Station - "Everytime You Say Goodbye"

Alison Krauss and Union Station - "Oh, Atlanta"

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Cold Cold Heart

Hank Williams may not be known by people who are not that into country music (especially the younger ones). But he has written and sung some amazing songs back in the first part of the last century. Check out "Lovesick Blues", "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" or "Lost Highway".

 "Cold Cold Heart" was written and recorded by Hank Williams in 1951. It is said the song is about his ex-wife who according to Mr. Williams was a cold hearted woman. The song reached the number 1 spot on the American Country Music Charts, and would I have lived then, I would have probably been one of the many people to buy this record. 

Hank Williams - Cold Cold Heart

Hank Williams was  not only a force to be reconned with in the last century. Even today he has inspired some great artists and avid music listeners. Since 1951 this song was covered by various singers (Johnny Cash, Toni Bennet, and Aretha Franklin among  others). My favorite rendition however, is by Norah Jones. Her debut album "Come Away With Me" includes "Cold Cold Heart" in a very Norah Jones style.  I actually heard her version before I even heard of Hank Williams, but I immediately fell in love with this song. 

Norah Jones - Cold Cold Heart