22 posts tagged with blues and folk.
Displaying 1 through 22 of 22. Subscribe:
All the Days
A quick, old tune
In The Pines
I went and bought my first resonator guitar yesterday, a Gretsch Honey Dipper (evidence), and this seemed like a good tune to try and break it in on. [more inside]
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.
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.
Way Down in the Hole
After seeing the Muppet Movie this weekend, I was reminded of a project I led back in '08 called Doctor Teeth. This Tom Waits arrangement is one of a few recordings we made, despite having never played a show. [more inside]
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.
Baby Please Don't Go
Live in deepest Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Accompanying myself on my Hungarian mouth bow. Video here.
when the morning comes to your window by vampire deer
song 4 of 10 of cadillac hill
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.
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.
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.
Sitting On Top of the World
This is my other brand new band, the Ghost Steppers. We do old-time, early blues, jug band, mountain music: all traditional stuff, no originals. Here's our rough-and-ready take on an old favorite, originally written and recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks, that's been interpreted by many, many folks over the years. I've changed the lyrics a bit (maybe more than a bit) but that's part of the longstanding folk tradition, of course. Video of this same performance at YouTube here.
Napoleonic blues - second song posted
A song I wrote the lyrics for and worked up the melody and progression with the band. Me on ukulele, Jamie singing and on glockenspiel, Justin on guitar, Ella on cello, Tina hitting a a tin. This was recorded before Christmas, again not the most beautiful of recording quality but it gives you a sense of the band's fuller sound with the cello.
Any feedback or critique appreciated as always.
[more inside]
God Knows
I wrote and recorded this last summer about my asshole boss. Minor structural changes have been made since then, but the idea is there. [more inside]
River Rise
A song that was sort of spontaneously written just over ten years ago. One of my sad songs about water. [more inside]
Night Terrors
Written to satisfy both a Songfight challenge and the mefi music challenge. Who says you can't spook two horses with one chestnut? Featuring three buttons on my accordion.
Beat Guitar (or, Rags to Rags)
Raw bedroom recording of a song that will eventually end up on an album. Lyrics inside. [more inside]
Until You Sever The Snake
Written and recorded for the serpentine challenge now underway. My buddy Ken Kawashima brought in the North Mississippi blues riff and yours truly did the rest. Apologies to animal rights advocates, but some snakes were severed during the recording of this song. Had to be done. [lyrics inside]
Lexington Avenue Line
In a departure for me, this tune features no percussion, synths, jaw harps, scrap metal or hand held mini-vibrators, but is simply accompanied by... an acoustic guitar. Radical, huh? Anyway, as you might guess from the title, the tune is a kind of meditation on New York City. Hope you enjoy.
Rocks And Gravel
This track is built around a beautiful song from Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' Outtakes bootleg. Enjoy!
Glass Eye
Off the album released in January, here's a blues written almost two years ago featuring Colin Keller on the Drums.
Most of Mine
There was an episode of Will & Grace in which Harry Connick Jr's character cheats on Grace and then tries to get back together with her. Embarrassingly enough, that TV show was the inspiration for this song.
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