18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses :: Kathy Mattea

Friday greetings, friends! This week, my posting take me back to my time as kid, listening to my dad's favorite music. Growing up, I went through musical phases with my dad - from Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary to the Beatles' White Album and Bonnie Rait to the Dixie Chicks, I sat with my dad by first by the turntable, and later, the CD player, and soaked it in. In fourth grade, while my friends listened to top 40 radio and found Ace of Base, I knew all the words to "Buckets of Rain" and "Something to Talk About." Today's post reflects that era of my life. My dad has always been a fan of country music - not the mass-produced cheap stuff that's on every other heartland radio station, but good old-fashioned bluesy, bluegrass country, complete with steel guitar, upright bass and all that good stuff. A favorite album of my dad's and mine - after the peak of our Dylan obsession and before we discovered the Dixie Chicks, was Kathy Mattea's "A Collection of Hits." The following was one of my favorite songs on that record, which I listened to several times through on my last road trip from Chicago to Ohio. Below is a live performance of the song. I almost decided not to post this video because Mattea stps and talks for a couple of minutes halfway through the song, but then she mentions the word "hootenany," and I was suckered into using this version... :-) Enjoy.




Charlie's got a gold watch

Don't seem like a whole lot

After thirty years of drivin'

Up and down the interstate

But Charlie's had a good life

And Charlie's got a good wife

And after tonight she'll no longer be countin' the days

CHORUS

Eighteen wheels and a dozen roses

Ten more miles on his four day run

A few more songs on the all night radio

And he'll spend the rest if his life with the one that he loves



They'll buy a Winnebago

Set out to find America

Do a lotta catchin' up

A little at a time

With pieces of the old dream

They're gonna light the old flame

Doin' what they please

Leavin every other reason behind

Break Me Out :: The Rescues

sometimes, there are just artists out there who you can get enough. most of the time, if you dig an artist, you buy all their music, go to their shows, spread the word about them, and enjoy them on a daily basis.

sometimes, there are artists out there who can't enough of makin music. i dig these kinds of artists...because it means that i get to listen to their solo stuff and their band stuff...it's double the pleasure, double the fun...almost as much fun as doublemint gum.

anyway, that's what my new favorite singer, Adrianne, did.


she got together with two other people:
Gabriel Mann


and Kyler England


and formed the band: The Rescues.


i really dig this group. they have great vocals and harmonies, and instrumentals. what i enjoy most about this song is its ability to make your pulse race and your feet movin...it's a song that i think a lot of people can really relate to the feeling of wanting to just get away. sometimes you just gotta break out and run and do something different...

anyway, below is a acoustic version of my favorite song from The Rescues...they're jammin.

so, enjoy!
the end.
<3,
meggo.


Break Me Out::The Rescues

my empty room
crowded too soon
i look for the fire escape
i picture myself
runnin like hell
makin my getaway

there was a cavin in with no warnin
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i'm runnin out of air

break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out

stare at our feet
sneak down the street
some kind of secret race
they'll carry on
won't notice we're gone
so easily replaced

there was a cavin in with no warning
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i'm runnin out of air

break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out

there was a cavin in with no warning
the ship is sinkin
i gotta swim for it
i've got a feelin we're better off anyway
i don't care what they say

so, break me out tonight
i wanna see the sunrisin anywhere but here
come with me, oh, this could be
the only chance we get
we gotta take it
if we don't do it now, we'll never make it
lose this crowd
oh, break me out
break me out!

What About Change :: The Black Finks

By now, everyone should be fairly aware of my intense love for all things hootenany-ish. Also, I am obsessed with my former life in D.C. On that note, I'd like to take a moment to talk about the twice monthly songwriter circles that have evolved at a great little D.C. coffee shop/community hang-out/fundraiser concert venue/Religious-activist bookstore, called The Potter's House. I have attended the songwriting session numerous times, even a few times since moving away from D.C. (I make a point to stop by when I'm in town). Lots of great things have come out of these sessions and I've had a blast, as a musician, working with other musicians and growing as a songwriter. If you enjoy this video and want to hear more of the stuff that has come out of Potter's House sessions, let me know - we've recorded other things that we've done!

The song I'm posting this week came out of one of those sweaty Saturday sessions. I'm sad to say I was not present for the creation of this song, but happily, I've had the opportunity to jam on it with its writers on subsequent occassions. It's a really great tune. This video is of the song being played, at a Potter's House Friday night Sounds of Hope concert, by one of the song's writers, Lou Black, and his band, The Black Finks. The two folks standing with Lou singing back-up are David and Kitty, co-writers of the song.



I don't know all the lyrics off-hand, but I can email Lou, and post them when he sends them to me. Enjoy!

Hard Travelin' :: Woody Guthrie

I was going to post "Garden of Simple" by Ani DiFranco today, but I couldn't find a good video of it and it's the guitar part on that song that is really the kicker for me, so I wanted to have audio if I was going to post that one... so I had to pick something else. Since it snowed about twelve feet today (I'm exaggerating), meaning that I got snowed in in Milwaukee, I thought I'd post something like "Winter" by Tori Amos or that song about "a winter's eve" by Sarah McLachlan, but that seemed kind of cliche, so I finally settled on some good old folk music, as usual. This song is a favorite at the now infamous "hootenanies" some D.C. friends and I have gotten into the routine of throwing whenever possible.

I am posting this video of the song because I think it sounds awesome, but please be advised that I DON'T believe the "hard partyin'" or "hard f-ing" verses these guys add at the end of the song was actually part of Woody's original... but in the spirit of the hootenany and impromptu music-making, let us overlook that... :-)



Hard Travelin' (Woody Guthrie)
I've been havin' some hard travelin', I thought you knowed
I've been havin' some hard travelin', way down the road
I've been havin' some hard travelin', hard ramblin', hard gamblin'
I've been havin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been ridin' them fast rattlers, I thought you knowed
I've been ridin' them flat wheelers, way down the road
I've been ridin' them blind passengers, dead-enders, kickin' up cinders
I've been havin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been hittin' some hard-rock minin', I thought you knowed
I've been leanin' on a pressure drill, way down the road
Hammer flyin', air-hose suckin', six foot of mud and I shore been a muckin'
And I've been hittin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been hittin' some hard harvestin', I thought you knowed
North Dakota to Kansas City, way down the road
Cuttin' that wheat, stackin' that hay, and I'm tryin' make about a dollar a day
And I've been havin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been working that Pittsburgh steel, I thought you knowed
I've been a dumpin' that red-hot slag, way down the road
I've been a blasting, I've been a firin', I've been a pourin' red-hot iron
I've been hittin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been layin' in a hard-rock jail, I thought you knowed
I've been a laying out 90 days, way down the road
Damned old judge, he said to me, "It's 90 days for vagrancy."
And I've been hittin' some hard travelin', lord

I've been walking that Lincoln highway, I thought you knowed,
I've been hittin' that 66, way down the road
Heavy load and a worried mind, lookin' for a woman that's hard to find,
I've been hittin' some hard travelin', lord



Peace folks.