I love it when two musicians from completely different musical backgrounds come together and play music. This performance by Sam Bush and Jorma Kaukonen from High Sierra Music Festival on June 30, 2000 could be what influenced Jorma to record Blue Country Heart which is a masterpiece of roots blues and country featuring Jorma, Sam, Bela Fleck, Byron House and Jerry Douglas. The picking in this set is mind blowing and the synergy between Jorma and Sam is amazing. For some of the tunes, Sam plays slide on what he refers to as a ham can which is a National dobro mandolin. Jorma accuses Sam of being a “very disturbed man” for playing such an instrument. The rhetoric between these guys is hilarious. This is one of the favorite live shows in my collection and I hope you find it as much fun as I did. Its a 256kbps MP3 rip of a lossless soundboard and the sound quality is A+. Enjoy!

Jorma Kaukonen & Sam Bush

6/30/00

SBD>Tascam DA-30MKII>digital out>Sek’d Prodif plus soundcard >
Sound Forge>CD Architect>Plextor 8/20

Recording:
Ken “Easy Ed” Edwards
CD Mastering & Seeding:
Ken “Easy Ed” Edwards

01. intro by Wesley Robertson

02. Hesistation Blues

03. the roots of Rock and Roll and Bluegrass

04. Crossroads Blues

05. if you have any questions

06. Sally Where’d You Get Your Liquor From?

07. deeply disturbed

08. How Long Blues

09. my middle name

10. Mann’s Fate

11. favorite Jerry tune

12. Sittin’ on Top of the World

13. (applause)

14. 99 Year Blues

I’ve been listening to Iron and Wine frequently these days. Their sound is so unique yet so familiar. They have a subtle sound that grows on you the more you listen to it. Songwriter Sam Beam knows how to pen a poignant lyric and then put it to a beautiful melody. They play their song “Boy With A Cain” on the radio quite a bit these days which is from the album The Shepherd’s Dog. This YouTube clip is from the video to the song Lion’s Maine. The video footage matches the tone of the song perfectly.

The Avett Brothers are playing La Zona Rosa next Sunday Nov 4. I saw these guys at this year’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival and they are a riot. I’ve heard them described as the Nirvana of the 1800s. See you there!

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals have a new EP out called Follow The Lights. The material on it sounds much like Easy Tiger and if it had a couple more songs (there are seven) the EP could stand up as an album. I’m always amazed at the volume of amazing music Ryan Adams cranks out especially with all the touring that he does. You can sample Follow The Lights here but I highly recommend picking up your own copy!

Cherryholmes is a family bluegrass band featuring two generations of smokin’ pickers. Based out of Arizona, Cherryholmes has performed on the Grand Ol Opry and received the best new bluegrass band of the year at last years IBMA awards. They’ve got five albums and are currently recording on Skaggs Family Records label. Check them out:

Raising Sand, the new duet album with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant is one of the best albums to come out this year. At first, it seems like an unlikely pairing but when you hear the music it makes perfect sense. Here is a great, short documentary about the project…

The Bluegrass Blog has posted an excellent documentary about The Infamous Stringdusters called Four Days of Infamy. Produced by String Theory Media, Four Days of Infamy gives insight into the daily life of the ‘dusters as it follows them through a tour of Colorado this past March. You can stream the documentary in its entirety. Check it out!

Been really getting into The Two Gallants a duo from San Francisco whose sound is hard to describe but if I had to slap a label on it I’d call it punk rock americana. They are playing The Mohawk on October 13.

If you are not one of the million and a half people that have seen Spoon’s I Turn My Camera On video featuring Keepon, the cute lil’ gyrating robot then check it out… 

Austin360 is reporting that the White Stripes have cancelled their appearance at this year’s Austin City Limits Festival.  They were supposed to headline the festival on Saturday night.  They’ve also canceled a number of other shows on their tour siting Meg’s anxiety disorder.  According to Austin360, Muse will take their spot.  What a buzz kill!  One can’t complain too much with a lineup that includes Queens of the Stoneage, Bob Dylan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Robert Earl Keen, Arctic Monkeys, Spoon and many more. 

On a related note, if you want to get in on a recording of Austin City Limits, they are filming several episodes with bands that will be in town during the festival.  Check it out.

And if you are still trying to plot your ACL Festival course there is a great Google Maps / Youtube mashup site called Bills Map.

Happy Festivating Everyone!