Music: Levon Helm - By Jim James
Here's a piece by Jim James of My Morning Jacket on the great Levon Helm. It's from Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Singers Of All Time"
Check out the whole list here.
"There is something about Levon Helm's voice that is contained in all of our voices. It is ageless, timeless and has no race. He can sing with such depth and emotion, but he can also convey a good-old fun-time growl.
Since Papa Garth Hudson didn't really sing, I always felt that, vocally, Levon was the father figure in the Band. He always seems strong and confident, like a father calling you home, or sometimes scolding you. The beauty in Richard Manuel's singing was often the sense of pain and darkness he conveyed. Rick Danko had a lot of melancholy to his voice as well, but he could also be a little more goofy. They were all different shades of color in the crayon box, and Levon's voice is the equivalent of a sturdy old farmhouse that has stood for years in the fields, weathering all kinds of change yet remaining unmovable.
The best thing about Levon is that he has so many sides, from the sound his voice gave to the Band's rich harmonies to how he can rip it up on songs like "Yazoo Street Scandal," "Don't Ya Tell Henry," "Up on Cripple Creek" and "Rag Mama Rag." He can pop in for sensitive moments, such as in between Manuel's vocals in "Whispering Pines." And he laid down one of the greatest recorded pop vocal performances of all time: "The Weight." I was fortunate to get to go to one of his Midnight Rambles a few years back when My Morning Jacket were recording up in the Catskills. To see him walk out on that stage and sit down behind the drum kit in person was a thrill. No one else plays the drums or sings like Levon, much less doing it at the same time.
There is a sense of deep country and family in Levon's voice, a spirit that was there even before him, deep in the blood of all singers who have heard him, whether they know it or not."
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Music: Mornin’ Ya’ll
I'm amazed - My Morning Jacket
This song makes me happy. Enjoy for yourself.
Get well soon Jim James.
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Livin': Sweet Tee: Southern Brand Launches with “Lil’ Ones” Line
The hillbillies are headin' to the big city. New York, that is.
We're takin' our wares up to the ENK Children's Club show in NYC, October 5-7. We'll be launchin' some sweet southern tees for them lil' boll weevils, followed by Southern Belle and Southern Man lines for grown folks in the next month or so.
We figured there weren't enough people out there makin' the kinda shirts we were always lookin' for. The kinda tees that feel like they been washed a thousand times with love by your mama, then hung to dry on the clothesline out back, just swayin' in the fresh summer breeze. T-shirts that are simple, bold, and uniquely southern. Not all that crazy, over the top printing on every inch including the armpit of the too-tight fashion tee. And not all that rebel flag, south's-gonna-do-it-again-southern that somehow seems to be all ya get when you google "southern t-shirts". We wanted to create a line for the Southern that we know. Small town America. Life through amber-tinted glasses. The sweet, smoky taste of some real pit BBQ. The steely sound of a slide guitar. The rumble of an old pick-up truck down a muddy dirt road. Sittin' on the front porch sippin' sweet tea, spittin' watermelon seeds and pickin' a tune. A brand built on truth, integrity and pride. Built on fillin' a need. By makin' the clothes we want to wear ourselves. Clothes we believe in. Premium quality. Classic American design. An honest product at an honest price.
We hope you enjoy wearing them as much as we do making them.
And if for some reason you don't, send 'em back, we'll wear 'em.
The skinny on Southern Brand Tees:
These T-shirts are made from sweet, soft cotton. From the dirt. Up outta the earth. They got some sun in 'em too. And some soul. We put 'em through an extensive vintage wash process which produces distinctive weathering and classic color resulting in a true vintage look and a super soft feel. They feel like your favorite shirt that you been wearing for years or one that's been passed down through all the kids in the family. 'Cept it's new outta the box. The new and improved hand-me-down, ya'll.
We're launchin' three "collections" (tryin' to bone-up on our fashion speak.) You can check 'em out by clicking the banner ad to your left. There's "Woodtype", that pays tribute to the old letter press show posters that musicians used for promoting their shows throughout the south. There's "Animal Farm", an homage to those noble critters a whole bunch of us grew up with. And there's Highway 61, full-up with sayings and imagery from the Mississippi Delta and on up the "Blues Highway". Just wholesale right now, ask your neighborhood general store to carry 'em. Retail comin' soon.
The Blues and good ol' southern music is what fuels us 'round here at Southern Brand, so we're trying to do our share to keep that great American tradition alive. We've teamed up with the fine folks at the Music Maker Foundation , and we're donating a part of our proceeds to 'em so they can do the great work that they do, gettin' Blues artists food to eat, medical care and help with the daily grind - while spreading the news of the blues and educating people in this special and poetic American art form.
It's more about where your head's at than where your feet are at.
We figure it don't matter if you live south of the Mason-Dixon line, or have never set foot near the muddy banks of the Mississippi, long as you have and appreciation for some of this stuff, you're a friend of ours. Welcome friends.
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Music: Band Ya Oughta Know: High On Stress
Every so often we'll try bending yer ear about a band that ya oughta know about, need to know about or just might darn near improve the quality of your life.
High On Stress is our inaugural artist and not just cause their name describes our current situation. Outta Minneapolis - with lyrics that cut through the haze of a Wednesday night at the bar and make you sit up and feel like someone is commiserating with you.
"It's a cash machine advance, don't it make you wanna dance?" Go the lyrics and the music is just right. You listen harder. "Red-eyed girls - go home in fancy cars - after all night parties drinking at the hip hop bars" and then - "Half is spent before the you pay the rent - half is spent before the money is sent -- it's a cash machine advance -- don't it make you wanna dance?" Aw, c'mon now, this is good.
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Nick Leet writes these great tough songs while Mark Devaraj handles drums, and Jim Soule on bass guitar and backing vocals and Chad Wheeling on guitar and organ gloriously fill out the foursome. This is more rock than country but it's mined from that vein that we all love about good country music. Leet, a refugee on the run from North Dakota, (which he describes on one song as full of "cover bands, bad punk rock and things that I can't stand") manages the feel of alt. rock while holding onto a rather large (to these big ol' ears) classic country influence.
I hear The Replacements in there, and I hear Wilco. I hear Uncle Tupelo, I hear that Americana sound wraslin' with those indie rock influences in a cage match reffed by great big catchy choruses.
I hear the sound that plays as a pretty college girl tells you her problems with SoCo on her breath on her hundredth desperate-fun night at a bar. I hear the sound of making sense of it, when what pours out of the speakers between beers 3 and 7 is perfect and you're invincible and you understand the whole sad world.
In High On Stress I hear music for a good but serious time. Tied up in knots and keeping the tempo light. A quick look through their myspace tells you that critics have taken notice of the way their lyrics and images pop out at you like countrified U2.
Their first album, Moonlight Girls, is full-up with 'heart on sleeve and heat of the moment'. A new band with influences varied enuff and talent big enuff that it always doesn't sound like someone else, it just sounds like your favorite new song comin' on the jukebox.
Their new album Cop Light Parade is out now. Those great new songs are already out there in the ether, after being snuck to friends and on myspace. We actually got us a CD here at Southern Brand, and have 'bout worn it out. The whole thing is great but stand-out tracks include White Sugar, My White Pages, Partner in Crime and We Could Have Been Nobody. (ya can buy it at CDbaby.com by clicking here)
This here is the kind of American goodness that'll keep your toes tappin' and heart beatin' while you're reminiscing 'bout all them lost and crazy whiskey-soaked nights - real or imagined. Keep 'em flying fellas.
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Music/Film: The Black Keys - Live From Abbey Road
Check out the Sundance Channel's series "Live From Abbey Road" Thursdays at 10 PM. Above is a clip of The Black Keys' episode. The show is described on the Sundance Channel site as follows: "The world's most famous recording studio is the setting for this intimate music series featuring new and established performers. Created to suggest the visual quality of a movie and the carefully engineered sound of a commercial recording, LIVE FROM ABBEY ROAD captures artists without an audience as they rehearse, discuss and perform in the closed environment of a recording studio."
They've got another series that looks good as well. "Architecture School. Focusing on an innovative studio program at Tulane University, this six-part documentary series follows a group of fourth- and fifth-year architecture students as they design and build a single-family house in a low-income neighborhood of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina." Episode 1 is airing on August 20th at 9 PM.
The Black Keys are also featured on MTV2's "The Drop" today. Now go outside, and tell the world! I'm envious of all you lucky folks who are goin' to see 'em in Toledo tonight!
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