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.

There is a video out for the first single off the Beastie Boys new album The Mix-Up which is entirely instrumental featuring no sampling or vocals.

The song is called The Rat Cage and the video is very cool in an old school sort of way. I love how these guys can put out amazing music no matter what tools they use to make it. I can’t wait to hear the whole album.

Check it out:

Check out this very cool homemade video that the boys from the south of Austin put out. What a cool Beck cover. Its as if the song was written to be played on bluegrass instruments which doesn’t surprise me because Beck has very traditional influences.

Here is an excellent performance that Ryan Adams and his band The Cardinals did on The Henry Rollins Show. One thing that this video makes me realize is that Adams is a killer guitarist. (via)

I’m such a YouTube junkie. I’ll go on YouTube in search of something and find myself browsing videos for hours. One cool side effect Youtube is having is that it is bringing back music videos. Cuckoobird favorite Todd Snider has some excellent music videos on YouTube including the following two which I hope you get as much of a kick out of as I did.

The first is a hilarious video for a song Called Looking For A Job which features Todd driving around in a van convincing people to quit there jobs and go party with him:

The second is a video for the song called Iron Mike’s Main Man’s Last Request which features some well placed footage of Mike Tyson. The video was produced by Fifth Column Films who’ve done a very good job, really driving home the point of the song:

I was reading over at the Fretboard Journal blog about how Tony Rice has hurt his back and has had to cancel some shows. That is a real drag; feel better soon Tony! They also had a little mention of an amazing looking bluegrass documentary called Bluegrass Journey which features Tony, Del McCoury, Rhonda Vincent, Tim O’brien, Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas, Nickel Creek and others. Below is a clip from Bluegrass Journey that features Tony playing Shenandoah, what a beautiful piece:

Gotta love some high lonesome Motorhead sounds from the Hayseed Dixie boys!

Last night I got to see Todd Snider play at the Santa Fe Brewing Company. I arrived at 7:00, thirty minutes before the show was supposed to start and it was already packed. Somebody mentioned to me that Todd’s new album The Devil You Know was ranked 33 on Rolling Stone’s top 50 albums of 2006 list. Todd Snider is finally getting the kind of audience that he deserves. Every one of his albums is a masterpiece of songwriting inspired by such greats as John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver and Kris Kristofferson.

Todd’s buddy from East Nashville, Pete Cooper opened the show. Pete is a clever singer songwriter with a very poignant song about Hank Aaron. Todd took the stage a little after 8:30 with his jumbo Epiphone and harmonica. With Todd solo acoustic in such a small place it made for a very intimate vibe. He played most songs of The Devil You Know and also reached into his older repertoire with songs like Missing You and This Land Is Our Land.

Some of the stories that Todd told between the songs had me rolling on the floor, especially the story about the inspiration for If Tomorow Never Comes. Apparently he stole the name of the song from Garth Brooks after the guy that wrote Garth’s version explained to him how he legally stole Beer Run from Todd.

Paintings by Todd’s wife Moleta Osheowitz-Snider were displayed all over the stage and presumably they were for sale. Below are some photos and a video clip that I took.

Update: I just found this excellent interview/performance with Todd in KUT’s Studio 1A.

Well only David Lee Roth on Bluegrass, but it is a Van Halen tune (Jump). I love how the banjo player transposed the guitar solo to the banjo. David Lee Roth looks like a Senator or something in this video, he’s lost his edge. The band in this video is really good.

I love this video…