Aretha Franklin At Hollywood Bowl

Aretha Franklin: I Say A Little Prayer (Live, 1970)

“Everyone was there for one reason, though: to hear Franklin sing. Her voice is one of pop’s wonders, and though it’s no longer the astonishing instrument it was in yer youth, it is still worthy of veneration.

Barn-stormers such as “Respect” gave Franklin some trouble. She just can’t punch out those phrases as she could in her prime. At times, her voice was subsumed by the huge wave of music generated by the full band, orchestra and legion of back-up singers behind her.

Franklin’s longtime musical director, H.B. Barnum, ably kept the troops in line and jumping, and a few players stood out, notably Franklin’s son, Teddy Richards White, on guitar. The most exciting instrumental sound, however, was Franklin’s own piano playing, featured on a swinging new song, “I Adore You,” which she said would be on an album to be released in September.

Franklin relied on the 40-plus musicians onstage with her, not to mention those dancers and a full choir that emerged for a song near the end; their busy presence frequently gave her room to step back and breathe. She recovered by returning to the vernacular forms that underpin her great pop hits. “Today I Sing The Blues,” which she first released in 1961, was even richer now, after 40-plus years. Taking the song from smoky blues to pleading gospel, Franklin inspired many audience members to raise their hands in blessing.

Further sanctification occurred with “Old Landmark,” a gospel shouter that allowed Franklin to show her full powers of spirit-touched improvisation. She connected the song to the civil rights movement by preceding it with a shout-out to Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of several prominent African Americans in her audience. (Others included Billy Dee Williams, Angela Bassett and Halle Berry, who actually came onstage during the encore and knelt at Franklin’s feet.)

Of her most familiar songs, “Ain’t No Way” was the most powerful. As her cousin Brenda White-King sang its eerie high background notes, Franklin expertly phrased this saddest of romantic laments. The burnt-sugar tone of her voice exquisitely suited the mood of this classic.” LA Times

Kat Edmonson: Lucky (From the Album ‘Take To the Sky’)

Kat Edmonson: Lucky

“Kat Edmonson is a rare talent: A jazz singer whose voice transcends the standards.” Audra Schroeder, the Austin Chronicle

Less is more.

Little Willie Littlefield: Kansas City

Little Willie Littlefield: Kansas City  (Live)

“Before “Kansas City” was recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Peggy Lee, the song was first released in 1952 as “K.C. Loving” by an obscure Houston pianist named Little Willie Littlefield. The single became a regional hit in the Los Angeles area, where Littlefield was recording for Federal Records, but it would be up to Wilbert Harrison, Trini Lopez, James Brown and Hank Ballard to turn “Kansas City” into a top 25 hit on the national pop and R&B charts. Littlefield remained a fascinating, mysterious footnote to pop-music history.” Geoffrey Himes, LA Times

This Video Makes My Day

Unknow School Kids: “Viva La Vida (by Coldplay)

Tuomo: Reaches Out For You

Tuomo: Head Above the Water (Live at Helsinki Festival on August the 29th, 2008)

“Tuomo defies every stereotype about what soul is suppose to be. He is white, Finnish (yes, Finland!), looks a bit of a nerd, is a classically trained child prodigy, a self-defined jazz musician, has little rasp in his timbre and doesn’t appear to know his way around a gospel run. Yet, one listen of the multi-instrumentalist’s self-produced sophomore project, Reaches Out For You, no other definition but “soul” suffices. The self-penned Reaches… is certainly more soulful than his 2007 multi-award-winning debut, My Thing, which strained hard – too hard – to musically follow the soul greats. Perhaps even less than fellow male blue-eyed soul artists like Lewis Taylor, Jamie Lidell or James Morrison, Tuomo no longer audibly strives to sing like Stevie, Marvin, Curtis, or Donny. Vocally, his unassuming tenor now has more in common with Lenny Kravitz or Jason Kay, the Jamiroquai frontman, than the Stevie he attempted on My Thing. Yet, his project oozes soul, offering me new revelations of the term’s meaning.”  L. Michael Gipson, Soul Tracks

Three new country albums that blurring the line between country and pop

Jason Aldean: She’s Country (Live at CMA 2008)

“Well, no one would really consider Urban and Rascal Flatts strictly country acts, much less outlaw cowboys. They find their footing and fan bases on country radio, but, like Sugarland and Little Big Town, they’re crossover artists with broad appeal. They leave the butt-kicking swagger to Toby Keith and the pleasures of sun, sand, and margaritas to Kenny Chesney”

“While Rascal Flatts and Urban continue to blur the line between country and pop, Aldean definitely knows the difference. In case anyone’s confused, he spells it out in “She’s Country”: “From her cowboy boots/ To her down-home roots/ She’s country.” Well, at least somebody is.” James Reed, the Bostol Globe

Bob Dylan, interview with Bill Flanagan

Elvis Presley: Little Sister (Live at MGM Studios)

“Bill Flanagan: This Dream of You has this wonderful South of the Border feel, but at the same time, I detect echoes of Sam Cooke, the Coasters, the Brill Building, and Phil Spector. Were those records from the 50’s and 60’s important to you? Did you try to capture some of that flavor in This Dream of You?

Bob Dylan: Those fifties and sixties records were definitely important. That might have been the last great age of real music. Since then or maybe the seventies it’s all been people playing computers. Sam Cooke, the Coasters, Phil Spector, all that music was great but it didn’t exactly break into my consciousness.

Back then I was listening to Son House, Leadbelly, the Carter family, Memphis Minnie and death romance ballads. As far as songwriting, I wanted to write songs like Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson. Timeless and eternal. Only a few of those radio ballads still hold up and most of them have Doc Pomus’ hand in them. Spanish Harlem, Save the Last Dance for Me, Little Sister … a few others. Those were fantastic songs. Doc was a soulful cat. If you said there was a little bit of him in This Dream of You I would take it as a compliment.” Bill Flanagan, The Telegraph

Lee Ann Womack: Solitary Thinking

Lee Ann Womack: Solitary Thinking (Live at 2009 ACM Awards)

“What I like about this song is that it has a completely contemporary arrangement- not very country at all – which is usually bad, right? However, this single also features a completely country lyric, filled with heartbreak at every step. Lee Ann lets out the perfect emotion, a resigned kind of loneliness, that she thinks only some “solitary thinkin’ and lonesome drinking” will solve. Listening to it with Lee Ann’s voice and that lyric, this song is undeniably country- it just doesn’t fit into any other genre, especially pop.” Waylon Paune, My Kind of Country

My Kind of Country’s Chris Dean wrote the review!

Reba McEntire: Strange

Reba McEntire: Strange (Live at the ACM)

“”I’ve watched many, many decades of entertainers,” she continued. “And I will go watch females and be totally entertained. And when I watch the males, I love their singing, and their lights. But when the girls come on, you better know that they’ve come up with something new and innovative, and they’re going to give you a show.”"

“”It’s a little bit different,” McEntire explained following a rehearsal for last Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards. “It’s tongue-in-cheek. It’s a little bit about, you know, ‘I’m supposed to be in love with this guy and really heartbroken, but I’m not.’ So, it’s a tough-woman song.”" Yahoo! News

Sara Watkins

Sara Watkins: Sometimes I’m Loving You Too Much (live from the Violin Shop in (nashville) Bellevue, Tennessee)

“Sara Watkins’ debut is new and refreshing; it is a blending of retro flavors that remains contemporary, while avoiding the manufactured nostalgia that so often creeps into both Nashville and alt-country music.” Country Universe/William Ward

“So what kind of album is it? It’s very country-bluegrass, in the vein of Nickel Creek’s first album, Nickel Creek. It also has this relaxed feel, and a kind of throwback vibe, such as on “Any Old Time”. It also just feels effortless and natural, and it’s very calming to listen to. She also has a few instrumentals, “Freiderick” and “Jefferson” where she shows off her fiddle playing, and she is very entertaining. Beyond that, her vocals are very evocative, as usual, and she comes off assured.” My Kind of Country/Chris

“Recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles, the album was produced by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, whose recent production credits also include an album with all-female string band Uncle Earl. Jones excels at deriving a unified, warmly unassuming sound from a large all-star cast, which also includes Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, and Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas. The evidence here suggests that they, too, were charmed by Watkins’ preternatural charm” No Depression