Willie Nelson’s new album Songbird was released today, what an excellent Halloween treat! The album was produced by Ryan Adams and features Ryan and his band the Cardinals as Willie’s backup band. The album is very bluesy and has some killer guitar licks to compliment Willie’s lyrical presence. The steel guitar really sounds sweet, giving Songbird the country sound of a Willie Nelson album. The album features many covers including Grateful Dead’s Stella Blue, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Gram Parsons‘ $1000 Wedding and Fleetwod Mac’s Songbird. If you are a Willie Nelson, you must check out Songbird!

The new JJ Cale and Eric Clapton collaboration, The Road To Escondido is a must hear for any Clapton /Cale/Blues/Guitar fan. Its got a laid back blues, rock, soul, americana sound and some killer guitar work. In addition to the licks of Cale and Clapton, Derek Trucks also lays down some slide work on this one. Most of the songs were written by JJ Cale with “Three Little Girls” written by Clapton and “Hard To Thrill” by (of all people) John Mayer. The shows on the tour for this album must be amazing as they freature the likes of Taj Mahal, Doyle Bramhall II, Derek Trucks, Albert Lee, Nathan East, Willie Weeks and Steve Jordan. There is a great video documentary of the making of the Road To Escondido over at ericclapton.com.
Related mp3:

Eric Clapton - TearsInHeaven.mp3

Taj Mahal - StatesboroBlues.mp3

Shooter Jennings is the son of the late great Waylon Jennings (for those why might not know) and his brand of outlaw music could be described as Waylon Jennings meets Led Zepplin. His brand of rock and roll kicks soooo much ass and asures us that outlaw music lives on! His most recent release Live At Irving Plaza 4.18.06 is a testament to that. His vocals sound scarily like his daddy’s and his style is very similar, but the biggest difference is that it has a heavier, more rock ‘n roll sound. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Shooter raises just as much hell as Waylon did. He looks just like a young Waylon too… You can see this in Shooter’s portrayal of his dad in the movie Walk The Line.

I’ve been on a huge Beck kick lately. Every album he releases is candy to my ears! I’ve listened to his new album The Information every day this week. My favorite song off the album, Strange Apparition is a nod to the Rolling Stones’ classic Torn And Frayed. The album uses less sampling than alot of Beck stuff, and reminds me more of a rock album than a hip-hop type album. Its got alot of latin styled beats and alot of funk. I recommend getting the physical CD as opposed to an iTunes purchase because it comes with stickers that allow you to design your own personal cover. I was reading an article where Beck was saying that he’s working on a way to allow people to remix the album themselves, which would be really cool. Its all about the mashup these days. Beck filmed a bunch of home brewed music videos for the album which got uploaded to YouTube (see links below). The videos are quite hilarious and feature Beck dancing around in a Bear suit with his kid (I think) in the background. At any rate, check out the Information, its a killer Beck album.

Relevant Links:

LA Weekly Interview

Celebrity Week Interview

Beck Videos On YouTube

An excellent fan site

Joel Selvin has a fantastic review of this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle.  The article also has some great photos.  I’m going to figure out a way to make it to this festival next year come hell or high water.  Hopefully they will break the “you can only play once every five years” rule and have Todd Snider back again.

By the way, Near Truths And Hotel Rooms is an excellent live Todd Snider album and a great introduction to him if you’ve never heard him before.

There is a great article on NPR about Hardly Strictly Blugrass Festival (complete with streaming audio) and how it got its start. Billionare investment banker (and claw hammer banjo player) Warren Hellman started the festival 6 years ago as a way to bring some free music to his home city of San Francisco in Golden Gate Park. Last year the festival entertained 300,000 people. One thing I found interesting in the article is that the festival was originally called “Strictly Bluegrass” but when Emmylou Harris played it with her band Spyboy who had a New Orleans sound, Hellman renamed the festival “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass”. Check it out!

Related Links:

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Lineup

StrictlyBluegrass.com

For all the gear heads in the audience, Blair Jackson has just published a new book called Grateful Dead Gear that contains in depth information about the Grateful Dead’s instruments, sound systems, and recording equipment.  Here is the info from the publisher backbeatbooks.com:

Grateful Dead Gear is the very first in-depth examination of every aspect of the Dead’s technical side, including their recording methods. From the “acid tests” of the mid-’60s to the famous “wall of sound” in the ’70s and up to their exceptional later touring systems, the Grateful Dead were always on the cutting edge of technological innovation and experimentation. This exhaustive study includes clear and concise explanations of the band’s equipment technology, instrument design, and studio recording techniques, plus a history of the group. It’s the fascinating story of how a colorful cast of tech geniuses and visionaries merged art, technology, and commerce into one of the most successful touring businesses in music history.

(via thumbrella)