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.

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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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Some of Today's Best New Musicians (According To Me)

I have had little inspiration to write lately, but did listen to some great music. In this blog post I will present some of today's best musicians (according to me).  All of them use old music styles in a very modern way. Most of them have started performing only recently. I hope you like them as much as I do.  

Alabama Shakes - "Hold On" (USA)

Folka Dots - "Black Crow" (USA)

Caro Emerald - "That Man" (The Netherlands)

C.W. Stoneking - Jungle Lullaby (Australia)

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Best Bob Dylan Covers 

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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Music That Makes Me Happy

I hardly ever tell anyone that I listen to music from the Andrews Sisters. First of all because they are not that widely known in Europe, and second because people look at me as if I'm a little crazy if I let them hear this music. I think it's a shame. It does sound very 1940's, but that doesn't mean that it isn't any good. It always makes me happy when I hear their songs. That may be one of the reasons why their music was so big during one of the most difficult period of world history.

During the second world war, when most American men were at war oversees, The Andrews Sisters were enormously popular in the US. Their popularity already started in 1937 with their hit single "Bei Mir Bist du Schoen". This song, originally part of a Yiddish musical, was translated into English (without the writers' consent) and brought The Andrews Sisters immediate fame. They were the first famale vocale group ever to win a gold record. Strangely enough, this song was also quite popular in Germany, that was untill the Germans discovered it was written by Jewish people. 

Their popularity lasted from 1937 - 1951 and the group had an average of eight hit songs a year.They really were the face of the World War II period, and they could be seen everywhere at that time. Next to the all the songs that were recorded, they made movies, went to several military bases, and had their own radio show. They were often dressed in navy clothing to support the war effort.

Songs such as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", ""Shoo-Shoo Baby", and  "Rum and Coca Cola" were not only extremely cachy in the 1940's, but (according to me) are still very good 70 years later. Let me know what you think. 

The Andrews Sisters - "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"

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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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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