Same Old Man - Holy Modal Rounders - April 23, 2012

Way way back in art school, this super nice guy whose name I can`t remember, gave me a tape with Screamin`Jay Hawkins on one side and The Holy Modal Rounders on the other.  The tape had been dubbed multiple times and sounded like shit but I loved it - both sides - and played it to death.  When I started playing accordion and singing songs, my take on Black-Eyed Suzy a la The Holy Modal Rounders was one of the first songs I learned. I went on to record it with my first band, The Dogbreath Brothers Black-Eyed Suzy - Dogbreath Brothers and we also had other HMR tunes in our repertoire:  Mole In The Ground, Cuckoo, and Flop Eared Mule.  Man, was I ever surprised when I heard the "real" Flop Eared Mule played by a bunch of virutosos. HMR completely deconstruct it so ignoramuses like me can play it when they're drunk on Tullamore Dew. 

This song, Same Old Man, has slowly and steadily worked its way under my skin and I took the time to learn it last summer.  There is a profundity to the simple poetry of the lyrics that reaches beyond its literal boundaries, while the melody is primal.  It is the HMR version of the traditional song The Old Man At The Mill, and as Steve Weber is credited for the arrangement, I imagine he wrote the lyrics that differ from the original.   

The album(s) pictured above are the only ones that I am familiar with.  These guys, Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, had a tumultuous and turbulent career and put out a lot of crazed, joyous, psychedelic folk music.  There were many breakups, reunions, and offshoots along the way and there was a lot of drugs.  If you want to find out about the Holy Modal Rounders without reading a sanitary Wikipedia summary of their career, check out this rambling, very colourful interview with Peter Stampfel 

http://www.furious.com/perfect/stampfel.html

Here's me playing Same Old Man

 I just came across this and I urge you to watch and listen to it!  Karen Dalton was part of the folk revival in the early 60's and was associated with the Holy Modal Rounders, Bob Dylan, and others.  While you can find many versions of the traditional Old Man At The Mill on youtube, this is the HMR version.  It is quite haunting.

Same Old Man - (Traditional arranged by S. Weber)

It`s the same old man sittin` at the mill

mill turns round of its own free will

yes I`m certainly glad to be home

New York city can carry on alone

My mind is failing, my body grows weak

my lips won't form the words to speak

I'm floatin away on a boatful of pain

you'll hear my sad cry but won't see me again

It's the same old lady hanging out her wash

now she's wearing a Macintosh

she's hangin' out her hose in the middle of the rain

I thought New York City had gone insane

Hey little leaf lyin' on the ground

now you're turnin' slightly brown

why don't you hop back on to that tree

and turn the colour green the way you oughta be

***************************************

Here's the lyrics of a traditional version of The Old Man At The Mill

Same old man working at the mill

the mill turns around of its own free will

hand in the hopper and the other in the sack

ladies step forward and the gents fall back

Up said the raven as she flew

if I were a young man I'd have two

one to fetch and the other to sow

and I'd have a little string for my bow bow bow

Down sat at owl and he said all quiet

lonesome day and a lonesome night

thought I head a pretty girl say

court all night and sleep all day

My old man is from Kalamazoo

He don't give no "yes I do"

first to the left and then to the right

This old mill grinds day and night.

PLUS a killer live version of The Dillards performing it

It's A Wonderful Life - Sparklehorse with Troy "Bubba" Cook - April 16, 2012

Troy "Big Bubba" Cook is a big Sparklehorse fan.  Each night of our recent Death Ballad Love Teller's Tour (me, Troy, and Ben Sures in the round) we performed the song It's A Wonderful Life together.  In Vancouver, Troy picked up the entire Sparklehorse catalogue on reissued vinyl from Red Cat Records.  Mark Linkous, the creative force behind Sparklehorse, died tragically, and Bubba feels that by playing his music, he contributes to keep the music alive and vital.  It seemed right to do the song this week, so Sunday night, tour over, we headed down to the basement and laid it down.

Here we are performing the song

Here's the Sparklehorse video for It's a Wonderful Life.....directed by Guy Maddin

It's A Wonderful Life - Mark Linkous / Sparklehorse

I am the only one

the can ride that horse

th'yonder

I'm full of bees

who died at sea

it's a wonderful life

it's a wonderful life

I wore a rooster's blood

when it flew

like doves

I'm a bog 

of poisoned frogs

it's a wonderful life

it's a wonderful life

I'm the dog that ate

your birthday cake

it's a wonderful life

it's a wonderful life

it's a wonderful life

Sparklehorse Biography

Although its name suggests the presence of a full band, Sparklehorse was essentially the work of singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, an alumnus of the mid-'80s indie band the Dancing Hoods. A tenure in the Johnson Family (later known as Salt Chuck Mary) followed, as did stints sweeping chimneys and painting houses. He began working as Sparklehorse in 1995, honing his spooky, lo-fi roots pop in the studio located on his farm in Bremo Bluff, VA. After a demo made its way to the offices of Capitol Records, Linkous signed to the label and issued Sparklehorse's acclaimed debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, scoring an alternative radio hit with the single "Someday I Will Treat You Good."

In early 1996, after a Sparklehorse concert in London, Linkous nearly died when he passed out after mixing Valium with prescription antidepressants. He spent 14 hours unconscious on his hotel's bathroom floor, his legs pinned under the rest of his body, and the prolonged loss of blood circulation nearly left him crippled. Many months and countless surgeries later, he was quite literally back on his feet, and his recovery provided inspiration for 1998's Good Morning Spider. Linkous then collaborated with PJ Harvey and the Cardigans' Nina Persson on 2001's radiant It's a Wonderful Life. In between that album and 2006's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (which featured contributions from Tom Waits and Danger Mouse), Linkous contributed songs to the soundtrack of the film #Laurel Canyon and produced Daniel Johnston's 2003 album, Fear Yourself.

The next Sparklehorse project was truly an ambitious one: a multimedia sound and art gallery done in conjunction with Danger Mouse and filmmaker David Lynch called Dark Night of the Soul. The project featured several singers, including James Mercer, Gruff Rhys, Jason Lytle, Julian Casablancas, Frank Black, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, Scott Spillane, and David Lynch, whose photographs made up the 100-page accompanying book. Although slated to appear on the Capitol label in 2009, Dark Night of the Soul ended up dry docked by a legal dispute between EMI and Danger Mouse (most likely stemming from the producer's brilliant -- but decidedly unlicensed -- Jay-Z/Beatles 2004 mash-up The Grey Album, which creatively combined the White Album with The Black Album and jump-started his career). Dark Night of the Soul was left marooned as an adjunct hostage in a complicated legal entanglement. Copies leaked out in different configurations, but it became apparent that Dark Night of the Soul's legitimate release was in serious jeopardy. Cutting his losses, Linkous instead turned his attention to a collaborative project with laptop artist Christian Fennesz. The two had previously recorded music together in 2007, and excerpts from those sessions were packaged together, forming the 2009 release In the Fishtank.

As of early 2010, Linkous had moved to Hayesville, NC, and was reportedly nearing completion of a new Sparklehorse album. On March 6 of that year he was visiting friends in Knoxville, TN, when he committed suicide at age 47 by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle. Condolences poured in from a number of major artists in the music world, including Patti Smith, Steve Albini, and Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, a group with whom Linkous had collaborated on Discovered Covered, a Daniel Johnston tribute album. An official release of Dark Night of the Soul arrived that July.

~ Jason Ankeny & Steve Leggett, Rovi

The Decline of Mankind - New Song, Live from the Ptarmagin Inn with Bubba Cook

Out on tour this week - The Death Ballad Love Tellers Tour, that is - with Ben Sures http://www.bensures.com/    and Troy “Bubba” Cook www.bigbubbacook.com    Tour or not, the blog must soldier on.  Sunday night we stopped in Banff, and while Ben - Little Charlie Trouble that is – was out laying down the blues with Harpdog Brown at Wild Bill’s, Troy and I set up in our room at The Ptarmigan Inn,  consumed only the most sensible amounts of  Wild Turkey, learned this new song I penned a couple of weeks ago, and laid it down.  What’s this song about?  Why don’t you write me and tell me....or ask me.  We’ll have a conversation about it.

Here we are performing the song, little audio crap going on, but hey this is a field recording, don't you know.

The Decline of Mankind

In a dream I walk the streets

of a city that always sleeps

Buildings tumble from the sky

 and flames shoot from my feet

I got a bluebird on my shoulder

lucky rabbit on my head

the bluebird is of Chinese descent

and the rabbit has long been dead

Night falls, crawls to the river

Day softly breaks

and this crazy, lazy city never ever wakes

The pharmacists insist

that sleeping pills will cure my ills

but don’t they know about the predator, the reaper

and the night time creeper

and robots who patrol the sky

with eyes of fire

and don’t they know that when I sleep

the trees whisper and conspire

This city where night is abundant

where arriving is redundant

Because when you get here, you’re already there

and when you get there, you’re already here.

Crumbled on the couch

with a bottle of wine

I fastidiously monitor

the decline of mankind

And I’m the kind of man

who tried to be good

And if I have failed

I hope that’s understood

In my backyard, I dug up a bone

I use it now to touch my phone

The birds, the trees, the digital feed

I never knew life could be so good to me

And well, what is this Death Ballad Love Teller's Tour all about you may ask.  This is what the press is saying....

Listen, this ain't three sensitive dudes with acoustic guitars. From Ben Sures beautifully crafted, insanely clever songs to Bubba Cook's bizarre tales of zombiesin the snow, midgets, aliens, and Richard Speck to David P. Smith's raw, literate, accordion driven reconstruction of country and blues, you will not be bored. You will not have a moment to check your fucking phone for texts or tweet some bullshit to some loser who isn't there taking in this awesome show.

I am willing to personally guarantee that you will find this show highly entertaining.  Following is a link to the Victoria Facebook Event page.  Tonight we're in Lethbridge at The NAAG, Tuesday the 10th a house show in Fernie, Wednesday the 11th the Penticton Art Gallery in Penticton, Thursday the 12th at Chapel Arts in Vancouver, Saturday the 14th in Victoria at Discovery Coffee James Bay, and Sunday the 15th at Arbutus Music in Nanaimo.

http://www.facebook.com/events/332385040151009/

Lost Patterns - Hazel Dickens - with Rachelle Reath - April 2, 2012

In my 20's, when I was first immersing myself in country music, a friend said to me "you've gotta hear this album by this lady Hazel Dickens....Hard Hittin' Songs for Hard Hit People."  Being that the dark and sad side of C&W was one of the things that really drew me to the music, the title alone was enough to perk my interest.  Dutifully I turned up a few days later with my blank cassette tape and recorded the album.  What an album.   Hazel has an expressive, powerful, old school Appalachian singer's voice, her music is a unique blend of bluegrass and country and western, and this album covers a lot of ground - from a kid gunned down robbing a liquor store (Merle Haggard's Out Among The Stars), to being old and lonely (Calloused Hands), or plain being broke (Busted).  Over the years I think I've learned about half the songs on this record.  It had a major influence on me and in fact, gave me the title of one of the first songs I wrote - The Hard Hit Song, recorded by The Dogbreath Brothers. 

Okay, here's a story.  Once when Carolyn Mark played The Calgary Folk Festival, Hazel was on the program too.  Carolyn brought me back this polaroid of Hazel.  It's so folk festival, gotta be one of those workshops they throw together....Hazel with a cabassa....come on!  Last April, the morning after a show I played which Carolyn had attended, we ended up jamming and sang the Hazel song Lost Patterns.  Later that day Carolyn found out Hazel had died the night before.  Damn, this is making me sad. 

I've always thought this was a great song.  The combination of imagery, emotion, and narrative makes it compelling. Recently,  Rachelle Reath and I arranged the song as a duet and have started to perform it together.  Lost Patterns tells the story of a couple who's relationship crumbles under everyday pressures - bills, unemployment.......hard to say exactly, but the chorus tag kind of sums it up - "with all the wearing and the tearing, the caring just walks right out the door."  Here's us performing the song. 

Hazel Dickens was many things.  A strong honest songwriter, a great interpreter of songs, a pioneer in terms of women playing bluegrass music, and a political activist, both for workers (specifically coal miner's) and women.  Here's a youtube bio of Hazel...

Lost Patterns - Hazel Dickens

The worn out linoleum has lost its pattern on the kitchen floor

And the woman who once scrubbed it has turned around and walked right out the door

The oilcloth on the table she wiped so many times it's almost gone

And the elbows leaning on it, held the head of a man who drank alone

Every now and then his empty can would shatter the silence of the room

As it landed on her pretty face still smiling from a broken picture frame

Lately since she left him he just sits at the kitchen table drinking beer

Staring at that worn linoleum, trying to trace the lost patterns in his tears

Chorus

It's hard luck, hard times and too many rainy days

Hard working people who just get by from pay to pay

It takes it toll upon us, we sometimes drive away the ones who care

With all the wearing and the tearing, the caring just walks right out the door

!!ACCORDION ENTHUSIAST ALERT!!

 Though you can't tell in the video, I'm playing a different accordion.  Yah, Big Red is a little miffed, but I have this big bad mother of a Tonaveri on loan from the Mintenko family and I had to give it a squeeze.  The keys are smaller than Big Red's and the buttons on the left hand are much closer together, so it's taking some getting used to. On the other hand, the bellows are nice and tight, the action on the keys crisp, the reeds fresh and clear....it's a sweet instrument  Okay, so now a confession that might not make me a lot of friends: people who are all weirdly obssessive about accordions creep me out.  There it is.  What better place to make enemies in the accordion community than on the worldwide web.  Now that's out of the way, here's some weirdly obssessive pics of the Tonaveri sure to delight the accordion enthusiast.  Check out these reed settings!  This thing's a cadillac. Mellow? What the?!?!  Best thing is when you press it.....nothing happens!  Sweet. 

The Organ setting is seriously addicitive

And they didn't skimp on the bass settings either