66 posts tagged with folk by flapjax at midnite.
Displaying 1 through 50 of 66.
Pandemic
Written in response to some of the more hideous things some politicians have said regarding death, disease and the economy. Not quite as hi-fi as I'd like, as I was running everything (vocal, guitar and stompers) live through a little guitar amp, recorded straight to an iPad, cause it was video recording. But, I guess it's acceptable. Anyway, it's the kinda tune I just wanted to get out there quickly. Here's the YouTube upload of this same performance. Thanks for listening, and stay safe.
Mean ol' Coronavirus
I wrote a little tune about that darn microscopic critter the whole world is talking about. I made a little video for it, too. If you wanna see it, it's here. Put it on Bandcamp as well, just for good measure, as an AIF file, which of course I'd be delighted if you bought for a buck. Or more. Cause all my damn gigs are cancelled lately. [more inside]
How Long, America?
Wish I didn't have to keep writing songs like this. [more inside]
Get Rid of the NRA
Just some opinions, set to the music of a three string guitar. Video of this same performance at YouTube or Facebook. High quality (AIFF) audiofile available for free download at SoundCloud.
Take A Knee
Topical song. Recorded live in one take, fast and dirty, at home. Vocal, three-string guitar and stompbox, all coming out of a 15 watt VOX guitar amp. I videoed the performance too, which you can see at Facebook or YouTube. If you'd like to download an AIFF audiofile, you can do so at SoundCloud. [more inside]
Ferguson, Missouri
This song addresses the situation in Ferguson and the frightening militarization and violence of today's police forces across America. I made a video for it, which you can view here.
Woman in Black
The Devil Walks the Earth
Here's a live recording of a song I premiered at a gig two nights ago (July 18, 2014). The bassist accompanying me is Keigo iwami, from the Swamp Root Jimmies. The song is anti-war, anti-greed, anti-death. Video here.
What Was That Sound I Heard
A song concerning the September 15, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. I made a video of historic photo images to accompany the song, which may be viewed here.
Homeless Jesus Creeps Me Out
I'm often inspired to write little songs and poems in Metafilter threads, as some of you here might have noticed over the years. I've decided that from now on, whenever time allows, I will not only post those kinds of things as text in a thread, but will record and post them here at Metafilter Music as audio, and in as timely a fashion as possible. This song was inspired by a comment posted by homunculus in a post I made about a statue of Jesus.
Democracy Stolen
Wrote this about the execrable Supreme Court ruling of April 2nd, 2014. Video here.
March 11 2011
Written and recorded on the third anniversary of the Great Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011. Video here.
Random Pictures of Strangers
As happens from time to time, a comment someone made here at Metafilter was the spark of inspiration for a song. This was the comment, and here's the song.
Never Took a Dollar from a Dead Man
This is S&H, from a show we did just the other night here in Tokyo. I'm so digging working with percussionist Habu Hiroshi, he's really bringing the groove. Video here.
Oh Death (by S&H, live, April 2013)
Well it isn't the first time I've posted this song to Metafilter Music. Nor is it the second, third or fourth. But, in my defense, I'd say that all of these versions are, well, rather different from each other, in their various ways. This fifth one is from my duo band S&H, and was recorded live at a little African restaurant in Shinjuku. Video here.
Annie Took the Money
Last of the tunes recorded earlier this month in a little house in the mountains. Vocal and stick dulcimer. A very prolific songbird who was just outside can be heard throughout this performance. Video here.
Hobo Blues
Ever since I first saw John Lee Hooker's utterly captivating, almost terrifyingly powerful performance of it, I've been a lover of this song. RL Burnside covered it as well. This is my humble (and following those two performances, I really mean that) offering, from a little house in the hills of Nagano prefecture, Japan. Video here.
Couldn't Tell You Why
Another tune recorded the other day at a little house in the woods. Just vocal and stick dulcimer, and a little bird outside that joins me for the very last note. Video here.
New Ways To Tell Old Lies
This is about that weirdo gazillionaire creep who wants to be president. Video of this same performance at YouTube or Vimeo.
No Last Request
Another world premiere, friends, from a tiny little joint in deepest Koenji. Once again I'm bangin' on the back of my diddley bow, with nothing else but a drone and a stombox to accompany my mournful cries. Lyrics and video here.
That's the Way It Wiggles
Recorded this at home the other day, using the stick dulcimer and a stomp box. Lyrics and video here.
If You Believe
Another tune recorded in the woods of Nagano Prefecture. Video here.
The Silence Could Be Heard
How I spent 4 minutes and 52 seconds of my summer vacation. Recorded yesterday, in the woods. Video YouTube or Vimeo.
Oh Death
Once again, it's that song that I just can't stay away from. This time it's coming at you from the Hokuriku region: live in Kanazawa, Japan, from my trio, the Smoke Benders. Our tuba player Daysuke Takaoka is channeling the deep didgeridoo spirits on this one. Video here.
Down the Road
Breaking out ye olde Hungarian mouth bow once again for this little number, recorded live at gaijin haunt What the Dickens in Ebisu, Tokyo, on the first day of May in the year of Two Thousand and Eleven. Video here.
Not Anywhere Anymore
i put down the phone / left a bag of cookies on the corner / filled my brain with a soft white light / sent all my 8-track tapes / to my cousin down in mississippi / took my foot off the pedal, and gave up the fight... A brand new song, live in Tokyo, May 1, 2011. Video here.
Random Act of Cruelty
Recorded live at Super Deluxe, Tokyo, April 22, 2011. I'm playing strumstick and stompbox. Video here.
John the Revelator
Here's another tune from an earthquake/tsunami disaster relief benefit show that i was part of on April 8, 2011. This one is a traditional gospel number. Video here.
Grateful Wanderer
Many of the gigs I'm doing these days here in Tokyo are fundraisers for Tohoku quake/tsunami disaster relief. This tune was from one such concert. The video for it has been added to the Artsts Support Japan YouTube channel, and it can be seen here.
Bless Your Pretty Bones
Another tune recorded in a former elementary school classroom on Awaji Island, Japan, during my March exile from Tokyo. Video here.
Alabama Bound
Just came across this the other day, fishing around in one of my drives. I recorded it four years ago as a simple take, direct to 2-track in one pass, with WaveDrum and vocal. I think I'd originally intended to add more tracks and flesh it out, but listening now I thought, hey, it's OK as is, stripped down to barest essentials and presented as a live take. Unfortunately, since the vocal and drum are on the same stereo track, I couldn't do as much post processing as I would've liked (especially comp on the drum) but c'est la vie.
No Such Place As Home
Yet another tune recorded in a classroom at the former elementary school were I was a refugee for a few days. Here I'm playing a berimbau they had lying around. Not playing it in the usual way (caoiera-style, you know), but just kinda strumming it. Your basic one-note accompaniment. Video here.
Pigs Ate My Roses
Another tune recorded during my brief exile on Awajima Island. Video here.
For a Little While I Was Free
Over the last few days, at a former elementary school on the island of Awajishima, I recorded a number of songs. This one is the newest of those: written on the train out of Tokyo on 3/17 and recorded on 3/18, in a rather reverberant hallway/stairwell. Video here.
Hope You Catch the Drift
Live in concert at Barrelhouse, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, on December 12, 2010. Vocal and stick dulcimer. Video here.
Baby Please Don't Go
Live in deepest Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Accompanying myself on my Hungarian mouth bow. Video here.
Blues Wrapped Round My Head (live, 2010)
Jacaranda
Brought the strumstick out the other night, for a solo gig in beautiful downtown Ikebukuro. This is a tune I've posted here before, in another incarnation. Video here. [more inside]
Last Kind Words
Those familiar with relatively obscure early blues, and/or those who've seen the R. Crumb documentary Crumb might know this one, originally recorded in 1930 by Geeshie Wiley. Here's the Ghost Steppers (duo incarnation) performing the tune on August 16, 2010. The one-year-old who was gleefully running about the room and occasionally trying to ascend to the stage may occasionally be heard in this recording. He was damn cute. Video at YouTube.
Your Little One Way Street
Once again it's the Tomato Can Sanza (run through my trusty el-cheapo pitch shifter) in action, in another tune from my set at the 2010 Sengawa Jazz/Art Festival in Tokyo. Video at YouTube. [more inside]
Until You Kiss Me (live, 2010)
Back in 2007 I posted this same song (a studio version) which eventually made its way onto my 2009 CD release, Roomful of Ghosts. Here's a live version of the tune, recorded June 25, 2010, at Super Deluxe in Tokyo. Video of this same performance here at YouTube, and just for good measure, here's the video for that studio version as well.
Only Passing Through
I posted a solo version of this tune back in January 2010, but this is the Medicine Bone version, recorded at a gig the other night right here in ol' Tokyo town. Video at YouTube.
Over Amsterdam
A new song, hot off the presses, recorded live in concert just a little more than 24 hours ago, as of this posting. Video of this same performance at YouTube and Vimeo.
World Beneath the Tracks
A brand new song I really wanted to record right away, even though I didn't have any instruments with me. So I used a plastic water bottle... Rubbermaid brand, I believe, and recorded it straight to video with my new camera, which has a pretty decent mic on it, as it turns out. The video's at YouTube.
Lonely Teardrop
From a recent live show with my band, Medicine Bone. The key we did this in wasn't the best for me, so I ended up kinda screaming it. And the recording is dirty and clipping. So, it turned out just about right. Oh, and the best thing is that old buddy Ken Kawashima (hear him with me here, here and here) was in town and graced us with some of his superb blues harpery. Video at YouTube and Vimeo.
Ready To Rock
Solo, live at CAY in Aoyama, Tokyo, April 14, 2010, accompanying myself on the strumstick. Video of this same performance at YouTube or Vimeo.
To Tennessee
Recorded April 7, 2010, in a conference room in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan. For this tune I'm using one of my sardine can sanzas. Video of this same performance may be seen at YouTube.
Fighting the Civil War
The recent announcement of Virginia's "Confederate History Month", and this comment in particular, in a Mefi thread about it, inspired me to write this song. [more inside]
Better Take Care of Me
Recorded April 7, 2010, in a conference room in Ichikawa City, Chiba, japan. The instrument is a kind of mouthbow, although it's not actually bow-shaped: it's one of these. Video of this same performance at YouTube.
Riding Your Train
Relaxin' at home with my new Marron Glacé Guitar, a diddley bow which was given to me recently by the maker, Mr. Tim Can. Thank you, Tim! Sometimes one string is all you need! Video of this same performance at YouTube.
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