Homegrown Radio 4/1/11 – Ami Worthen

A happy Friday everyone!  It sure is a happy Friday here at Robert Frost’s Banjo because I’m very excited to announce a special guest for this month’s Homegrown Radio feature: Ami Worthen of the band The Mad Tea Party. 

If you’ve been a regular reader here, you know that I was delightfully blown away by the Mad Tea Party’s music when I first encountered it last year (the band has been around for several years, so I’m a Johnny-Come-Lately), & I gave them a write-up right here in this space.  The Mad Tea Party has many musical strengths—Ami Worthen’s partner Jason Krekel is a fabulously talented guitarist, for one!—but to my ear a big strength of the band is Ami’s exceptional songwriting ability—not to mention her fantastic singing voice. 

So when Ami Worthen agreed to supply a couple of songs for this month’s Homegrown Radio series, I was stoked.  I should mention that Ami has just released an ep called 4 for 40, which you can download on a "pay what you can" basis right here.  Ami has generously made the album available without setting a minimum price, but if I can add my 2 cents: please pay what you can—this is a seriously talented musician & she should be compensated for her art!

The two songs Ami submitted for Homegrown Radio are not on the ep, so these are a bonus.  In addition to “Pounding Down the Trail,” today’s selection, I’ll be posting her second song on Friday April 15th, so make sure not to miss that.  Also, you can follow Ami Worthen on her aptly titled blog, Ukulele Rockstar.  She posts regularly, & her observations on music, art & more are always interesting!  Now let’s see what Ami has to say about “Pounding Down the Trail”

This is a previously unrecorded old song that I decided to document recently. It's pretty straight-forward. It's a reminder to myself to focus on the process rather than being attached to any particular end goal. Easier said than done. It also acknowledges the power of my calling to make and perform music, despite the impracticality and frequent uncomfortableness of it. I can't expect anyone else to understand why I continue to put myself out of my comfort zone. But I do believe there is magic in doing.

There’s definitely magic in Ami Worthen’s music making—enjoy!  The lyrics follow the mp3 player!


  pounding down the trail by Ami Worthen

I am pounding down the trail
if I walk then I won't fail
this is what I'm here to do
my aim is true

there is sunlight through the trees
and the birds they sing to me
I know that this is right
even though sometimes
I can't sleep through the night 

chorus 

I'm gonna do what I gotta do
I don't care if it doesn't make sense to you
I take each step along the path
it's a privilege to be bold

I am climbing up the hill
so glad I'm climbing still
though the peak is far away
I see something beautiful each day

the cicadas in the trees
one of nature's mysteries
they give me faith
sometimes in life
you simply have to wait

chorus

I am walking down the line
I will get it right this time
At least I'm gonna try
So I can look myself in the eye

the wonders to behold
the adventures that unfold
the dream is all around
the magic in moving is profound

chorus

music & lyrics © Ami Worthen 2011.  All rights reserved.

Homegrown Radio 3/25/11 – John Hayes

Happy Friday!  I’m checking in for my final turn at Homegrown Radio—thanks everybody for your encouragement & support.  I’ve had nice, complimentary feedback on the songs & that really meant a lot to me.

The last song is my take on Charlie Patton’s “Banty Rooster Blues,” a song he recorded at his first studio session in 1929 in Richmond, Indiana.  Interestingly, he also recorded “Peavine Blues” at that session, which is very similar in terms of riffs.  In fact, when the great Rory Block recorded a cover of “Peavine Blues,” she combined the lyrics of the two songs.

Lyrically, I stick close to Patton’s original, but the musical arrangement is fairly different.  For one thing, I play the song in open D (capoed to the key of E), whereas Patton played it in open G.  You might think that a song played on a guitar in one open tuned key would be the same as in another open tuned key, but because the notes on the open strings have different relationships to each other, this is not the case.  For instance, the lowest bass string & highest treble in string in open D are both the tonic note—they are the note D, while in open G, these same strings are the fifth tone of the G chord (again, the note D).  This means that riffs in one open tuning don’t transfer easily to the other.

I posted a video version of “Banty Rooster Blues” some time ago, & as the videos went, it wasn’t a bad version.  This one is better, however: for one thing, I did a lot of work over the winter to ensure that I was playing in better keys for my voice, & found that I was tending to pitch songs a bit low.  So rather than singing songs in D as much as I used to, I’ve moved many of them up to Eb, E & F.  By & large these can all be played on an instrument tuned in open D with the use of a capo. 

I’m expecting to announce a very exciting musician for next month’s Homegrown Radio, but I’ll hold off on the actual announcement until everything is 100% for sure—please stay tuned!

& in the meantime, hope you enjoy “Banty Rooster Blues!”

Homegrown Radio 3/18/11 – John Hayes

Happy Friday!  I’m back with another shot at Homegrown Radio, & this week I’m featuring a song I’ve done since I began performing solo that is in a bit of a different blues style—it’s “Katie Mae” by the great Lightnin’ Hopkins.

I posted a video performance of this song what seems like ages ago.  Generally speaking, I’m not all that satisfied with the performances in those videos, but the “Katie Mae” take wasn’t bad & still gets some hits on YouTube.  However, I both play & sing better now than I did when I made those videos, so I’m happy to post the version of “Katie Mae” I put on my cd, RFD Blues.

In this version, I’m doing the song in the key of F—playing the chords in E in standard tuning with a capo on the first fret.  “Katie Mae” is a straight ahead 12-bar blues tune with delightful lyrics, & I’ve always found it a joy to play.  It also makes a good song to start a set because it moves along & is light-hearted.  Tho I’d like to say I first heard one of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ versions of it, I must admit that my first exposure to the song came in my high school years when listening to the Grateful Dead’s Bear’s Choice album.  It was sung by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was a doggone good blues singer.  But nobody can do it like Lightnin’!

Anyway, if you’ve been following along, you know the info on the music from the cd.  I’m not selling the cds online, only at live performances.  However, you can get the mp3s for all the songs for free as follows:
Two ways to do it.  If you’re only interested in downloading a handful of the songs, the easiest way to do this is to go to the DivShare page at this link.   Once on that page, you’ll see an embedded mp3 player that should have “Preachin’ Blues,” the first song on the playlist queued up.  Below that you’ll see a button that reads “DOWNLOAD,” & still further below that, three columns containing the songs.  All of these should be highlighted except “Preachin Blues.”  If you click on a song, it will then appear in the mp3 player.  When you click on the DOWNLOAD button, you will download the song that’s currently in the player.

If you’d like the whole playlist, along with jpg images of the CDs front & inside covers, you can download that as a zip file right here.  The zip file is 49 mb, which is about average for the typical music CD's worth of song.

Hope you enjoy “Katie Mae”!

Homegrown Radio 3/11/11 – John Hayes

Howdy, folks.  I’m back for week two of my Homegrown Radio stint, & I have a tune for you I think you’ll enjoy.  I also have news about downloading—for free!—the songs from the cd I’ll be selling at my performances this spring & summer.

Today’s song is a great Charlie Patton number called “Green River Blues.”  If you don’t know about Patton, please check out the link to his Allmusic biography; without question, he’s one of the most important figures in the history of the blues in general & the Delta blues specifically.  He recorded 54 sides between 1929 & 1934, & these include some Delta standards—in addition to “Green River Blues,” a short list would also include “High Water Everywhere,” “Stone Pony Blues” & “Moon Goin’ Down.”  He’s a major figure in Robert Palmer’s seminal blues history, Deep Blues—a must read for blues fans even if Palmer’s romanticized view often clashes with a more strictly historical approach (for the latter, I highly recommend Elijah Wald’s Escaping the Delta). 

I recorded this song using the Regal resonator in the key of E in standard tuning—pretty straight ahead—& relied on heavy string damping to create a solid rhythm.  Patton’s rhythms were very complex, & while I’m not trying to imitate his specific rhythmic, I am trying to create a real drive on the guitar.

Now for the download news!  Two ways to do it.  If you’re only interested in downloading a handful of the songs, the easiest way to do this is to go to the DivShare page at this link.   Once on that page, you’ll see an embedded mp3 player that should have “Preachin’ Blues,” the first song on the playlist queued up.  Below that you’ll see a button that reads “DOWNLOAD,” & still further below that, three columns containing the songs.  All of these should be highlighted except “Preachin Blues.”  If you click on a song, it will then appear in the mp3 player.  When you click on the DOWNLOAD button, you will download the song that’s currently in the player.

If you’d like the whole playlist, along with jpg images of the CDs front & inside covers, you can download that as a zip file right here.  The zip file is 49 mb, which is about average for the typical music CD's worth of song.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!  In the meantime, please enjoy “Green River Blues.”

Homegrown Radio 3/4/11 – John Hayes

Yes, you read that right: I’ll be your Homegrown Radio entertainer this month.  As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m just wrapping up a 3-month recording project, so I’m taking the liberty of letting you know about this very homegrown recording operation each Friday in March on Homegrown Radio. 

Now you may be glad to hear that a sales pitch is not in the offing.  I’ll only be selling the actual cd (called simply & appropriately, I think, RFD Blues) at performances.  However, by the month’s end—probably much sooner—I’ll be able to provide you with a link where you can download any or all of the songs for free in mp3 format.  The album will contain 15 songs—just over 46 minutes of music.   

I’d orginally envisioned the album (or albums—at one point I played with the idea of two cds) as being more diverse in content, but by in large the songs by “non trad blues” folks just didn’t quite make the grade.  I’ll keep working on these songs & probably will perform them until I can get them to the proverbial “next level.”  I also dropped several traditional blues cuts that weren’t quite up to level of the best tracks.  This left me with following 15 cuts, which I feel completely comfortable about taking to the general public. 

1.    Preachin’ the Blues (House/R. Johnson)
2.    Katie Mae (Hopkins)
3.    Highway 61 Revisited (Dylan)
4.    Green River Blues (Patton)
5.    Poor Lazarus (trad.)
6.    Banty Rooster Blues (Patton)
7.    Black Snake Moan (Jefferson)
8.    Rainy Day Blues (Hopkins)
9.    Moon Goin’ Down (Patton)
10.    Cool Drink of Water (T. Johnson)
11.    Mama Tain‘t Long ‘Fore Day (McTell)
12.    T.B. Blues (Rodgers)
13.    From a Buick 6 (Dylan)
14.    Weeping Willow Blues (Fuller)
15.    Highway 61 (McDowell)

Seven of these songs have appeared previously on the Monday Morning Blues series, but the cd versions have gone thru the mastering process, so the sound should be noticeably better.  Another song, “Cool Drink of Water,” is a different take than the one that appeared earlier, & in a different key.  

Today’s song is, as you see, the lead off song to the collection, Son House’s boisterous “Preachin’ the Blues” (with a bit of lyrical interpolation from Robert Johnson’s thoroughly revised version of the song, which is also known as “Up Jumped the Devil.”)  I’m playing the Gold Tone resonator guitar slide style & capoed on the second fret to put the song in the key of E.   

Hope you enjoy the song, & stay tuned for more Homegrown Radio & download information!

Homegrown Radio 2/25/11 – Eberle Umbach

We’re a bit behind our time this morning—computer woes, busy schedules, & the fact that Eberle has gotten a bad cold in the past 24 hours have all acted in concert to put Homegrown Radio a bit behind its time.  But we’re here now, so let’s see what Eberle has to say about today’s song, “Picnic Dance,” again taken from our Moominpappa at Sea soundtrack:

This piece, like the one last week, was composed for a stage production of Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa At Sea and recorded in the Plum Alley Music studio/living room. The Moomintroll books are so wonderful, I really hope you check them out.

Picnic Dance takes place as the story’s storm has gathered to the breaking point. Tensions, both nameable and unnameable, are swirling across and around the island, and Moominmamma says one day: If we don’t have a picnic right away I know that something terrible will happen.

So the family sets out together with a basket of treats, and they frolic in the calm before the storm, chatting and cavorting in the moomintroll way that they used to know so well...

I’ve always loved the accordion- I started playing the melodica as a kind of substitute accordion before I fell in love with it on its own merits. The accordion had always daunted me a bit – but the great thing about writing music for a play is that it’s a chance for John and I to try out all those instruments we’ve been wanting to play around with. The bouzouki, bowed psaltry, yayli tambur and accordion were all new for me – also the first time for some new combinations – like thumb piano and cocktail drum kit – also my first compositions for steel drum.

I’d been listening to some Finnish music to get into the mood or mode of Tove (Finnish farmers were among the first settlers in the town where Moominpappa At Sea was performed) and my heart had been completely captivated by Maria Kaleniemi, a Finnish accordion performer and composer we’d seen on a very cool documentary called Accordian Tribe. Maybe John will post one of her songs (not very subtle hint—editors note: check in on Sunday for some Maria Kalaniemi!)  The color shifts in her music, the perfect summery joy that could change in a heartbeat to the moody solitude of long dark winters seemed just right for the play.  I just wanted, in the way of a novice, to echo what I heard in her music as best I could. On the video she says, in her glorious voice, that the accordion breathes, you must let the accordion become your own lungs – I have come nowhere near that in this song, which is a tribute to her. I hope you get a chance to listen to her gorgeous music.

Hope you enjoy this delightful song, & many many thanks to Eberle for providing us with such wonderful music this month!

Homegrown Radio 2/18/11 – Eberle Umbach

A happy Homegrown Radio Friday to you!  We’re here with a piano composition written & performed by Eberle Umbach—a song sometimes called “Rootabaga Dreams” & other times called “Rootabaga Dream Train” that I’ve always liked a lot.  Let’s read what Eberle has to say about her song:

When John and I were writing music for a stage production of The Rootabaga Stories, John liked this piece much more than I did – he suggested that I listen to it again today and after a few years I do find that I like it much better. It gave me a new insight into our mutual musical development as well, now that what John and I play together is old blues. Our first band, the Alice in Wonder Band performed jazz and my own compositions – we really didn’t have any blues at all in our playlists. I wrote the Rocking Horse Fly Blues, but it was more Alice than Blue – involving recited text from when Alice meets the Looking Glass insects – the Bread-and-Butter Fly too! I have no idea how we persuaded the oboist to act the part of the Gnat, speaking through a megaphone, but we did.

I think I was uncomfortable with Dream Train back then because so little seems to “happen” in it – especially when I was first writing songs, I loved complexity and would get farther and farther out in unusual rhythms and harmonies – every once in a while relearning, with an abrupt return to humility, that simplicity was actually the most difficult and the most effective approach (but complexity was so much more fun…) It struck me today that since John began taking the lead in the music we play together, we have pursued this direction of harmonic simplicity – having moved from songs where the chords often changed on each beat to songs that sometimes have only one or two chords – but a great deal of action.

I seem to have what amounts to a serious psychic allergy to the 4/4 rhythms of mass-marketed popular music from the 50s on, and the kinds of chord progressions that so relentlessly accompany the rhythms. Anaphaletic shock is always just around the corner for me in the blaring aisles of the grocery store. But the landscape of my musical heart meets John’s in old blues – modal, rhythmically complex, more often about humanity than about the inflating and posturing of ego, about authentic individuality and not propoganda for the death-cult of consumerism, celebretism, and economic privilege... (When my conversation starts turning rampant like this, John often says: But tell us how you REALLY feel about it, Eberle…)

Back to Dream Train – I also hadn’t remembered that in this song I combined a simple blues riff with the major seven chords I associate with Bossa Nova and Brazil – I think because the time I lived closest to the kind of subsistence rural farming that Sandburg’s characters know (and that some of the old blues singers lived) was in Brazil. Even in the sophisticated urban sound of the Bossa Nova, a lived connection with the land is audible. Like in The Waters of March, which celebrates the rains that come at the end of the dry season, ending that yearly time of hardship for farmers. I asked John to post that song too [note: I posted a video of Jobim & Elis Regina performing the song yesterday at this link], although it will make Dream Train sound like the tiny mite that it is, clinging with tiny teeth to the running, powerful, mythical body that is great music – but what a ride – the mite is a happy little mite and feels herself a mighty mite just to be there.

Hope you enjoy this beautiful piece!

Homegrown Radio 2/11/11 – Eberle Umbach

Friday is upon us, so it’s time for Homegrown Radio!  This week we continue with music by Eberle Umbach, & the composition for the week is a piece entitled “Moominmamma’s Painted Garden.”  This is taken from the soundtrack we wrote for a stage adaptation of Tove Jansson’s wonderful novel, Moominpappa at Sea.  If you’ve never read Jansson’s Moomin books, you’re missing a world of marvels & delights—I recommend them very highly.

Eberle sets the scene for the piece in her remarks today, so I’ll just say that this piece was composed & performed for her on piano, & recorded in her home music room/studio with a Shure KSM27 condensor mike.  Now, let’s see what Eberle has to say!

So – the Moomin family has gone to live on an island in the middle of the ocean because Moominpapa felt a great need to take his family far away from comfort and familiarity so that he could protect them from danger like a responsible father. They left the green hollows and undulations of Moominvalley for the barren island and lived in a lighthouse. Moominmama misses her garden terribly, and loses everything she tries to grow on the island, no matter how many masses of seaweed she piles up for soil. With picnics and pancakes and loving understanding, she tries to help her family through the trials they face – her young son falling hopelessly in love with a pair of lovely and frolicsome seahorses, her husband lost in moominmathematics and his hopeless attempts to predict the actions of the sea – they are both falling into despair – and the daughterly sarcasm of Little My as she comments pitilessly on their ridiculous plights…

Finally Moominmama just can’t take it anymore. She decides to paint a garden inside the lighthouse, her own garden, from Moominvalley. As she paints she drifts farther and farther away from family life – and finally disappears into the painting, where she sits blissfully under her apple tree. The family becomes aware of her absence and feel an unaccustomed desperation – does she return? Do the seahorses continue to scorn the lovelorn Moomintroll? Does Little My push them all over the edge by bringing their foibles into her harsh light? And what about the mystery of the missing lighthouse keeper? Read Moominpapa at Sea by Tove Jansson and find out!

I loved writing this piece for a stage production of the book performed in McCall – the director felt a real and immediate connection with Moominmama’s conflicting desires to both nurture and create, and she made this moment in the story come alive for me. This piece is solo, but John and I did some of our finest improvisation together for this play, in my opinion - even though we were both going through some real difficulties at the time. We worked very quickly and intensely, often coming up with a piece and recording it in the same session, with no written notes at all. That was very unusual for me – I have no notes on this particular piece and no idea how I’d play it again – but this had a liberating effect. Making up music without trying to capture it for future performance had its own energy and rhythms. It was a time of serious transition for John and I musically as well as personally. I learn once again that it’s only in looking back that I can really understand that emotional difficulties simply accompany the kind of change that creative work requires - I’m always reminding myself to trust the process and try not to be afraid of change. It took a great deal of interior turmoil for Moominmama, too, to pick up a paintbrush and paint for the first time – but her departure into creative work was important for herself and, ultimately, for the living heart of her family life.    

Enjoy the music—you can also listen to last week’s song, “Rootabaga Hoedown!”

Homegrown Radio 2/4/11 – Eberle Umbach

Happy Friday, everybody.  It’s time for another edition of Homegrown Radio, & I have to say you folks are in for a treat today & every Friday this month, because our February Homegrown Radio artist is none other than my dear spouse, Eberle Umbach!

If you follow Robert Frost’s Banjo at all, you’re familiar with Eberle’s writing as well as with her skills at musical composition.  Eberle is a true multi-instrumentalist: she’s a proficient pianist, harpsichordist, marimba player, drummer, flautist, melodica player, bass player (both electric & upright), Appalachian dulcimer player, & has turned her hand (invariably with good results) to everything from banjo ukulele to cello.  She has a love for quirky instruments as well, & plays a mean kazoo & slide whistle! 

But Eberle has often said that she is much more happy as a composer than as a performer, &  her compositional skills are formidable.  She wrote much of the material in the Alice in Wonder Band’s repertoire, wrote the score for a dramatic production of Antigone, wrote much of the scores for two silent movies she & I composed & performed as the Bijou Orchestrette (the films were both by Nell Shipman: Back to God’s Country & The Grub Stake), & has written all or part of the scores for a number of dramatic productions, from Under Milkwood to The Second Shepherd’s Play.  These days her musical skills are much caught up with her newfound Catholic faith, & she has written a number of works in this direction. 

Today’s composition, which I adore, is from a soundtrack to a dramatic adaptation of Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories.  Let’s see what Eberle has to say about her piece, “Rootabaga Hoedown”:

I enjoy inventing ancient music. When John and I were writing and recording music for a production of Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories, I wrote some ancient Americana – a hoedown for psaltery and bouzouki. John gave me the beautiful psaltery and I’d been wanting to write a song for this exotic creature for some time (John or the psaltery…? you decide!) The bouzouki came from a chapter of my own ancient history – when I was 14 my family came home with this instrument from a trip to Greece, and I hadn’t thought about it for decades until my mother gave it to me not long before the Rootabaga project. I don’t think it’s an instrument of great value, but it sounded very cool – John had been playing it and I loved the sound. At that time, we only had a Sony MiniDisc (no multi-tracking) but I had a very particular idea for the sound of the hoedown and I wanted to play both parts. So I recorded the bouzouki part and John put it on a CD – then I played the psaltery along with it and recorded the whole thing in John’s cave-like sitting room, a perfect ancient setting!

I know you’re going to love this one!

Homegrown Radio – Caroline Pond – 1/21/11

Happy Friday everybody!  We’re celebrating the day here on Robert Frost’s Banjo with music from a terrific musician, Caroline Pond.  Ms. Pond has been performing & touring for over 15 years, & is the front woman for Snake Oil Medicine Show.  She also plays with an old time band called Tater Diggers & shares a band with Ami Worthen(from Mad Tea Party)  called Sugar & Spice. Caroline started playing violin at age 7 years old & has been playing ever since.  Singing & playing ukulele are also gifts that she shares across the world.

I'd also recommend checking out Ms. Pond's delightful blog, Caroline Pond's Earth Adventures.

You can find cds from Snake Oil Medicine Show & the Tater Diggers on CDBaby (follow the links on the band names). 

Let's see what Caroline has to say about today's song:

The second song is called Freedom Song written by Luc Reynaud.  He wrote it for the children of the Hurricane Katrina disaster when he was in New Orleans.  Jason Mraz discovered this song, and he sings it too—and he went to Africa for the Free The Slaves foundation and heard kids sing this song.  It's so sweet that I wanted to sing it too.

This is "just" Caroline Pond & ukulele; it's a total delight.  & as an added bonus you can check out last week's song, "Fall On My Knees" in case you missed it (Caroline singing & playing fiddle).  I'm very impressed with Caroline Pond's musicianship & it's been a real treat to have her on Homegrown Radio.  I'm hoping to feature another of Ms Pond's songs next week, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, please enjoy "Freedom Song"!

Homegrown Radio – Caroline Pond – 1/14/11

It’s Friday—& guess what?  After a month & change, we’re back with Homegrown Radio!

I’ll tell you upfront: it’s been worth the wait to have an artist of Caroline Pond’s caliber.  Ms Pond hails from North Carolina, & is a member of a really thriving music community there—another favorite act that I wrote about on Robert Frost’s Banjo, the Mad Tea Party comes from the same town, & in fact Ms Pond counts that band’s members, Ami Worthen & Jason Krekel, among her friends. 

I first ran across Caroline Pond on Twitter & became very intrigued when she started tweeting about a cross-country road trip music tour with her mother along as companion, co-pilot & roadie.  This struck me as a truly remarkable thing, & I was fascinated to follow the tour’s progress on Twitter & on Caroline’s fine blog, Caroline Pond’s Earth Adventures. 

As a bio: Caroline Pond is the front woman for Snake Oil Medicine Show.  She has been performing & touring for over 15 years.  She also plays with an old time band called Tater Diggers & shares a band with Ami Worthen(from Mad Tea Party)  called Sugar & Spice. Caroline started playing violin at age 7 years old & has been playing ever since.  Singing & playing ukulele are also gifts that she shares across the world.

You can find cds from Snake Oil Medicine Show & the Tater Diggers on CDBaby (follow the links on the band names).

So, Caroline Pond emailed me earlier this week to say:

It's a snowy January Monday morning & I have time to make some music.  I happened to get my little Iphone and record 2 songs.  The first one is a traditional song called “Fall on my Knees.”  I just do it solo style, fiddle and vocals.

I know you’re gonna love this one!

Homegrown Radio 11/26/10

Happy Friday!  I trust all of our Stateside friends had a happy Thanksgiving yesterday.   Now that Friday is upon us, it’s of course time for Homegrown Radio, & sad to say, it’s out final go-round with Bernie Jungle.  As far as next month’s Homegrown Radio goes, that’s a bit up in the air, but I hope to have an announcement on that by Sunday.  Also, don’t forget that the Banjo Feast will continue tomorrow & Sunday.

But for now, here’s Bernie talking about this month’s song, “Louie”:

some of my songs are fiction
but this one, like Josie, is simply real life events set to music
i guess i had a colorful life growing up in the backwoods of western PA

and if Louie ever hears this song, i hope he takes no offense, but laughs along with the rest of us and memories of our crazy times growing up

maybe a song that some of your listeners can relate to

hope you all enjoy the song, it's been a pleasure

Happy Thanksgiving !

Bern

We’ve enjoyed it too, Bernie—thanks!

Homegrown Radio 11/19/10

Happy Friday!  It’s time for some Homegrown Radio with Bernie Jungle—so let’s see what Bernie has to say about this week’s song, “Penny:”

this was recorded on a home computer by Scott Greiner a few years ago
and features Kathleen Gacek on vocals, recorded on my laptop live
that is, after trying it with overdubs we had to just sing together into the same mic at the same time

but then quite a few overdubbed vocals at the end just for fun

hope you enjoy

I know you will enjoy it!  & a quick reminder: you can purchase Bernie Jungle’s solo cd on CDBaby right here.

Homegrown Radio 11/12/10

Hi folks, & happy Friday.  It’s time for some more Homegrown Radio with Bernie Jungle, & let’s get right to it!  Here are the lyrics & Bernie’s back story to his song “Josie”:

Josie
Josie drives a school bus every day, I can hear her tire chains
I was hoping for a day at home today
Josie doesn’t have to say a word, only look up in the mirror
That’s enough to make you shut your mouth and wish
She’d watch the road

Josie, Josie

Josie driving sixty miles an hour, where the limit’s twenty five
It’s amazing that we’re still alive
No one ever puts their body parts, out the windows of her bus
Josie knows just how to drive, the fear in us
And watch the road
I wish she’d watch the road

I’m so scared I think I’m going to die
Trees fly past just inches from my eyes
And I wish I had another cigarette
But I left them in my gym bag on my bed

Josie Josie etc.

Josie sits at home in panty hose
With a sandwich and a beer
She can hardly wait to go to sleep and steer

Josie is a true story about a bus driver I had in Western Pennyslvania in the late sixties and through the seventies taking us to school through grade school and high school. She prided herself in getting us there, even when most of the other bus drivers went home.

This song was written while looking back at her from the vantage of our tenderloin apartment in San Francisco when Kathleen and I arrived in 1995. It is indeed an old song, but has never been properly released. This version was recorded and mixed by Scott Greiner, who so generously recorded a bunch of my songs a few years back. They’ve gotten a little lost in mix-down but I hope to put them all out soon, in some form or another, so here’s one way eh? Most-excellent drumming by Adam McCauley.

Also, I must say that I intended to write new material each week and I tried, and did succeed in finding forgotten song parts and working up lyrics for some others, but nothing but new lyrics just didn't come. What did happen though was that I’ve been more involved in songwriting that I’ve been in a long time spending all my free time doing so. I’m grateful for that. Nothing really came together this week that I’d like to share but hopefully next week. So for now, an old but rarely heard song of mine, and I hope you all enjoy.

Thanks for all your kind words on last weeks song!

Thank you, Bernie!  Hope you folks enjoy this great song!

Pic of Bernie Jungle in the graphic is by Amy Snyder

Homegrown Radio 11/5/10

Happy Friday, folks!  I’m very excited about this month’s featured artist on Homegrown Radio, Bernie Jungle.  As I mentioned last week, Bernie is an extraordinary guitar player, as well as being a gifted singer & songwriter.  Bernie Jungle has always been in demand for his musical gifts, & has been a member of many bands—these include Warm Wires, The Lipsey Mountain Spring Band, The Great Auk, & Thunderbleed, AKA Blind Vengeance.  You can purchase his solo cd 4 Songs  on CDBaby here, as well as his cd with Peter Altenberg, Slumped Forward; & you can hear Bernie’s work with Carrie Bradley (also of Homegrown Radio fame!) right here on The Great Auk’s MySpace page.   You can also read Bernie's interview on the Robert Frost's Banjo Musical Questions series at this link.

Let’s see what Bernie has to say about this week’s song, “Sifting Through:”

it's a song about looking at the past and also about forgetting that we're aging

started when i saw a photo of a friends' brother who had passed away
in the picture he was probably 14 and had this amazing glint in his eye
started to think about that and other old photo's that i've got
and about how when growing up,  a friend of mine thought that when a plane flew really high in the sky
when you can't hear a sound but only see the con-trail
that it meant that someone had died
(we were both in probably 3rd grade when he told me that while we sat on a swing-set looking at the sky)

that has always stuck with me and finally made it into a song

and the rest of the song is about attraction and aging
and about being confused about falling in love

Here are the lyrics:

Sifting Through
If only the glint in an eye of a photo from seventy-two
If even a splash of that red from the fifties
When a plane high above in the sky
makes you think of the ones that you knew
I’ll be sifting, through


There’s time to be lost
And time to make sound with the bones in your body
This river has cost you dear

He sent her a poem through the air to her eyes but she didn’t receive
Then he looked in the mirror, and finally agreed
He was thinking that hearts can be had, and behave and beholdenly be
He was thinking of hearts, while drifting at sea

There’s time to be lost
And time to make sound with the bones in your body
This river has cost you dear

If only the glint in an eye of a photo from seventy-two
If even a splash of that red from the fifties

©2010 Bernie Jungle
 
Intrigued?  Here’s the song!



Pic of Bernie within the graphic is by Amy Snyder

Homegrown Radio 10/29/10

Wow, October really is zooming past us! Here we are with the final Homegrown Radio segment for the month, which also means it’s the last installment from Joel Murach. Joel sure has done a fine job by Homegrown Radio this month. But not to worry: the series will return in November with Bernie Jungle, who is perhaps the best guitar player it’s my pleasure to know—also a very good songwriter, singer & a truly good guy. Bernie has performed not only as a soloist, but also in bands such as Warm Wires, Thunderbleed & the Great Auk—the latter, a duo with Carrie Bradley, is one of my all-time favorite bands.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s hear what Joel has to say about “Ghost in the river,” this week’s song:

First, thanks to John for having me here at Homegrown Radio. And thanks to everyone who commented on the songs. It has been a lot of fun for me to be here.

I first thought of this song, "Ghost in the river", when I was camping out by a river. I had awoken in the middle of the night, and as I stood outside my tent in the moonlight, there was a fine white mist coming off the river. To me, it looked like a ghost. And it got me to thinking about ghosts and rivers...two recurring themes in my songwriting. A couple years later, I wrote this song, which combines those two themes.

For those musicologists out there, this song is in 5/4, which is a time signature that isn't used much these days. I hope you like it!

Thank you Joel for bringing such quality offerings to the Homegrown Radio table! & don’t forget, folks: you can purchase Joel’s cds on his website here. Enjoy the song.

Homegrown Radio 10/22/10

Observant fans of Homegrown Radio may have noticed that I mistakenly included this week’s song in last week’s embedded playlist.  Sorry about that!  Now that it’s the official new song of the week, let’s hear what Joel Murach has to say about “And the World Was On Fire:”

It was a scorching hot summer and there were wildfires burning everywhere in California. I was driving from Fresno to Santa Cruz. I was in the middle of the worst breakup of my life. To top it all off, I rented a documentary about 9/11 that Earl Butter recommended to me. It was devastating. And it all blended together into this song.

I started by recording a voice and a guitar, but it didn't sound so great, so I added more guitars and voices. I hope it sounds better now. I will probably keep working on it because I think this song is worth it.

Don’t forget: Joel has three albums available, & they can be purchased right here thru his website.  Hope you have a happy Friday & enjoy the song!

Homegrown Radio 10/15/10

Friday is upon us again, & that means it’s time for another installment of Homegrown Radio with Joel Murach.  Mr Murach has another top-notch song for us this week, so let’s see what he has to say about “You Wanna Have Your Cake”:

One day I started thinking about the saying, "You want to have your cake and eat it too." To be honest, I never really understood this saying. But then I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then I realized that it applied to a situation that I was in. And then I wrote this song.

The recording is essentially a live recording. I just set up two mics and played it. Someday, I'd like to overdub some pedal steel on the end of it.

Get ready for a sad one but a good one, folks.  Enjoy!

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Homegrown Radio 10/8/10

Happy Friday, everybody!  Time for some more Homegrown Radio, & we’re back with another song from Joel Murach.  Remember: you can purchase any (or all!) of Joel’s three cds on his website right here.  Let’s see what Joel has to say about today’s song, “Sun, Wind, etc.”

This is the first song that I have ever written that uses a non-standard guitar tuning. It's an unusual variation on the drop D tuning that I learned from Joe Rut. Joe Rut learned it from Bernie Jungle. And Bernie Jungle learned it from Jimmy Page.

I played the guitar and then overdubbed the three voices. From the vocals, I think you can tell that I spent much of my childhood listening to the Beach Boys.

To top it all off, I had the esteemed Earl Butter add some trumpet to it. Earl just seems to be getting better at the trumpet all the time.

Three degrees of separation from Led Zeppelin & the Beach Boys—sounds good to me!  Hope you all enjoy it.

Homegrown Radio 10/1/10

Happy Friday!  It’s time for another edition of Homegrown Radio, & in case you’ve forgotten to change your calendar—yes, it’s time to introduce a new musician for the month of October: Joel Murach!

When I lived in Baghdad by the Bay in the 90s, one of the most fun ways to spend the evening was dancing & grooving to the band Paddlefoot.  Paddlefoot was a phenomenon—a group with a whole lot of talent & energy & just flat-out rocking Americana goodwill.  Joel Murach played bass, sang & wrote songs, & he's kept his music going since Paddlefoot disbanded in the late 90s.  He's played in 86 & the Low Rollers (the back-up band that was formed for his third cd), & has also issued three solo albums & is working on a fourth.  You can find links to purchase his albums on his website right here.  Joel Murach is an accomplished musician & songwriter—also a heckuva nice guy—& I’m very happy that he’s agreed to participate in the Homegrown Radio project.  I know you folks are going to like his music.

Let’s see what Joel has to say about his first song, “I was born in California.”

First, thanks for having me on Homegrown Radio. It has been a slow year for me musically, so I am happy to be here.

The first line of "I was born in California" came to me years ago. I liked this line because it's true, it felt right for me, and it has a nice internal rhyme in it. When I tried to write the second line, the rest of the song just sort of spilled out. Actually, so many lines spilled out that I had to prune them back to what I give you here. Most of these lines are also true, feel right to me, and have some nice internal rhymes. I hope you like the song!

After years of not having a good home recording system, I have finally got Pro Tools system set up on my computer with a couple of cheap but decent microphones. So that's what I'm using for these Homegrown demos. I think they sound better than any demo recordings I have ever made.

You’re welcome, Joel!  & yes—good sound, good song—I’m sure you folks will enjoy it!