Country

September 28: Cowgirl’s Prayer by Emmylou Harris was released in 1993

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

One of my favourite Emmylou Harris albums was released on this date back in 1993.

Cowgirl’s Prayer is the seventeenth studio album by Emmylou Harris, released on September 28, 1993 by Warner Bros. Records. Coming immediately after 1992’s live acoustic At the Ryman album, Cowgirl’s Prayer is a collection of similarly subdued material (with a couple of rockers thrown in, notably “High Powered Love”, the album’s first single). Continue reading “September 28: Cowgirl’s Prayer by Emmylou Harris was released in 1993” →

September 17: Hank Williams birthday

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

hank-williams

It can be explained in just one word: sincerity. When a hillbilly sings a crazy song, he feels crazy. When he sings, ‘I Laid My Mother Away,’ he sees her a-laying right there in the coffin. He sings more sincere than most entertainers because the hillbilly was raised rougher than most entertainers. You got to know a lot about hard work. You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly. The people that have been raised something like the way the hillbilly has…. knows what he sings about and appreciates it
~Hank Williams (on the success of Country Music)

Nobody had a talent for making suffering enjoyable like Hank Williams
~Kris Kristofferson

Hank Williams was the first influence I would think.
~Bob Dylan (to Billy James, Oct 1961)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, 17 Feb 1965)

Check out this post: Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

Cold Cold Heart:

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Hiram King Williams
Also known as The Lovesick Blues Boy
Lovesick
Luke the Drifter
Hank Williams, Sr.
The Hillbilly Shakespeare
Born September 17, 1923
Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama
Died January 1, 1953 (aged 29)
Oak Hill, West Virginia
Genres Country, Western, gospel,blues, honky-tonk, folk
Occupations Songwriter
Musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1937–1952
Labels Sterling, MGM
Associated acts Drifting Cowboys
Audrey Williams
Website www.hankwilliams.com

Continue reading “September 17: Hank Williams birthday” →

Bob Dylan sings 11 Hank Williams songs

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

I believe in Hank Williams singing `I Saw the Light.’ I’ve seen the light, too.”
– Bob Dylan (1997)

Hank Williams was the first influence, I would think, I guess, for a longer period of time than anybody else.
~Bob Dylan (Bronstein Interview, Montreal, 1966)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, Feb 1965)

If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton, June 1978)

Bob Dylan has referenced Hank Williams in interviews, in books, and with music a lot of times. Williams was also mentioned in the liner notes on Dylan’s first two albums:

Bob Dylan (1962):

Bob Dylan started to sing and play guitar when he was ten. Five to six years later he wrote his first song, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. All the time, he listened to everything with both ears — Hank Williams, the late Jimmie Rodgers, Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Carl Perkins, early Elvis Presley.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan(1963):

Among the musicians and singers who influenced him were Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb and Big Joe Williams.

Lets start with a lovely scene from “Don’t Look Back” (1967, D. A. Pennebaker) where Bob sings Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” and “So Lonesome I Could Cry“:

“The songs of Woody Guthrie ruled my universe, but before that, Hank Williams had been my favorite songwriter, though I thought of him as a singer, first.”
– Bob Dylan (Chronicles)

Continue reading “Bob Dylan sings 11 Hank Williams songs” →

Bob Dylan Sings Jimmie Rodgers (born September 8, 1897)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Jimmie Rodgers of course is one of the guiding lights of the 20th century whose way with song has always been an inspiration to those of us who have followed the path. … he was a performer of force without precedent with a sound as mystical as it was dynamic. His voice gives hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty.
-Bob Dylan (Liner notes to “The Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute”)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Rodgers, along with his contemporaries the Carter Family, was among the first country music stars, cited as an inspiration by many artists and an inductee into numerous halls of fame. Rodgers was also known as “The Singing Brakeman”, “The Blue Yodeler”, and “The Father of Country Music”.

Continue reading “Bob Dylan Sings Jimmie Rodgers (born September 8, 1897)” →

1963: 20 songs released in 1963 you must hear

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

The Year 1963 summary

  • Washington-to-Moscow “hot line” communications link opens, designed to reduce risk of accidental war (Aug. 30). Background: cold war
  • Kenya achieves independence.
  • There are 15,000 US military advisers in South Vietnam. Background:
  • 32 independent African nations establish the Organization for African Unity.
  • “March on Washington,” civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers “I have a dream” speech (Aug. 28).
  • President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President same day (Nov. 22). Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies
  • Lee Harvey Oswald, accused Kennedy assassin, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby (Nov. 24).
    –
  • Beatlemania hits the U.K. The Beatles, a British band composed of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, take Britain by storm.
  • The Rolling Stones emerge as the anti-Beatles, with an aggressive, blues-derived style.

–
Rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed (that’s another & more complicated list)
  • Max 20 songs

Please feel free to publish your own favorite songs from 1972 in the comments section…

 

A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan

bob dylan - the_freewheelin

Written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. It was first recorded in Columbia Records’ Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – released May 27, 1963. The lyric structure is based on the question and answer form of the traditional ballad “Lord Randall”, Child Ballad No. 12.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]


Continue reading “1963: 20 songs released in 1963 you must hear” →

August 16: Happy Birthday Billy Joe Shaver

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

billy-joe-shaver1-1024x768

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]’Cause movin’s in my soul, i guess a gypsy boy got a hold
Of somebody in my family long ago
If some night while half asleep you hear the back door softly squeak
You’ll touch my empty pillow, then you’ll know
That restless wind, is calling me again
– Billy Joe Shaver (from “Restless Wind” (one of his best songs))

“He may be the best songwriter alive today”
– Willie Nelson

«He’s a real writer like Hemingway. He’s timeless»
– Kris Kristofferson

«Billy Joe is unique. One of a kind. They threw away the mold. The best.»
– Robert Duvall

I’m listening to Billy Joe Shaver And i’m reading James Joyce
-Bob Dylan (I Feel a Change Comin’ On)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Restless Wind:

Continue reading “August 16: Happy Birthday Billy Joe Shaver” →