I’m still a little shocked that it actually happened. Had you told me four years ago that in 2008 a black man would become president I’d probably have called you crazy. Now we can finally hold our heads up high and turn a new page. We can say goodbye to all the destructive politics of the last 8 years. Goodbye to McBush, Bible Spice, Bush, Cheney and the lies and destruction that they’ve brought upon the world. Hello peace, democracy and prosperity!

Here is a great video of Wilco playing an Obama rally in Chicago. Tweedy does a great job of verbalizing all the things that are great about our newly elected president:

Get your Palin 2012 shirt here!

Dr Dog is playing The Parish on Saturday. To get you pumped for the show, check out this KUT Studio 1 A performance recorded during SXSW 2008. These guys are so cool. I love the Beatles comparison made during the interview which I’m not sure is entirely accurate but they do have a McCartney aesthetic to their songwriting.

Todd Snider’s new album Peace Queer is set to be release October 14. Can’t wait to hear Forunate Son and all the new material. Here is the track listing:

1. Mission Accomplished (because you gotta have faith)
2. The Ballad of Cape Henry
3. Fortunate Son
4. Is This Thing Working?
5. Stuck On The Corner (prelude to a heart attack)
6. Dividing The Estate (a heart attack)
7. Ponce of The Flaming Peace Queer
8. Is This Thing On?

In related news, Todd is slated to play the Cactus Cafe on October 9 and 10. Yay!!!

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!