The Romance of Wolves :: Roma di Luna

I was trying on a darling little sweater (goldenrod and cream stripes with buttons, oh my!) on a recent afternoon at Tatters, a great vintage shop on Lyndale in Minneapolis. They always have good music playing over the soundsystem, and this day was no exception. The selections were as beautifully golden as the sweater's stripes.

While I was pulling the sweater over my head, a new song came on. The singer's voice was a little haunting, graceful, lovely, a lone banjo in the background. Then the rest of the band kicked in, the tempo picked up. The fiddle! The tremelo! The minor chords! Oh, my! The lyrics were intriguing, the sound was intoxicating, and I was suddenly so drawn in to the music and didn't give a darn about the somewhat ill-fitting sweater that looked so great on the hanger.

I fell in love.

Any regular reader knows I fall in love a lot. I'm just full of a lot of love, that's all.

But truly, can you blame me for being a sucker for a roots/Americana/blugrass/rock/country/folk infusion? If you've got a banjo, a saw, a mandolin, a fiddle, or anything remotely Appalachian sounding, or include stories that involve death, murder, redemption, faith, or unrequited love, or if you make me feel like I am at a revival, I will most likely be very happy with you and your sound. Give it to me.

And Roma di Luna does! I had to run out of the dressing room and find out who the band was. Turns out Roma di Luna is local, friends of the shop owners, and plays regularly around town. So, I need to check 'em out live sometime - they have a number of upcoming gigs, check out their myspace or webpage for all the details.

I'm featuring the song I heard that fateful day in the dressing room, "The Romance of Wolves". Unfortunately, the sweater didn't work out. But I left with a new love for Roma di Luna instead.

I hope you enjoy!



XOXO
Kim

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

Save It for a Rainy Day :: The Jayhawks

It was probably 2004 when I first became acquainted with the Jayhawks. It was in the summer of my year with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and my housemates and I were looking for something cheap to do one hot, muggy night. There was some sort of free art and music thing in the theaters downtown, so we went down there to check it out. I coaxed them into going to see Brenda Weiler and some other guy, Gary Louris. Brenda Weiler was good, but Gary Louris blew us away. He is the singer for the (now-defunct?) Jayhawks, an alt-country band from Minnesota. Anyway, he is a magnetic performer live. After that show, I got a bunch of Jayhawks CDs from the library, and for the rest of the summer I drove my housemates nuts playing them on repeat.

Save It for a Rainy Day

Pretty little hairdo don't do what it used to
Can't disguise the living
All the miles that you've been through

Looking like a train wreck
Wearing too much makeup
The burden that you carry
Is more than one soul could ever bear

Don't look so sad, Marina
There's another part to play
Don't look so sad, Marina
Save it for a rainy day
Save it for a rainy day
Save it for a rainy day

You neve make your mind up
Like driving with your eyes shut
Rough around the edges
Won't someone come and take you home

Waiting for a breakthrough
What will you set your mind to?
We stood outside the Chinese restaurant
in the rain

Don't look so sad, Marina
There's another part to play
Don't look so sad, Marina
Save it for a rainy day
Save it for a rainy day
Save it for a rainy day

Shine::Dolly Parton

I chose this song because I think we need some country on here! I'll be honest in that country is not my favorite genre of music, but I did grow up with it, so I have a certain amount of nostalgia for artists like Dolly Parton. I grew up resenting country music because it was "hick" and represented the ignorance I saw all around me. However, now I've softened myself to it quite a bit.

I have two reasons I understand for this softening. One is that country music is all about loss and yearning and hope. Just think about it- country artists had to leave everything they knew just to pursue their art. I can certainly identify with that. When I hear country music, I think about my childhood on a farm and think about all the things I had to give up just to be the awesome person that I am today. Another thing is that country music is probably the most accesible kind of music in our society. (I owe that realization to Chuck Klosterman from "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs." Good book. You should read it.) The three-chord progession, the twangy vocals in vernacular, the middle-of-the-road subject matter, basically everything country music is derided for, also makes it incredibly catchy and easy to understand. Sometimes I catch myself singing along to a country song I've only heard once before or haven't heard in 15 years. It's that easy to learn!

Dolly Parton's version of "Shine" is a great example of how country music makes a song accesible. Probably you've heard the original version of "Shine" by Collective Soul, but did you understand all the lyrics? Dolly completely transformed that song for me. I liked it before, but now I understand it. She turned it into a great song for me.


Teach me how to speak
Teach me how to share
Tell me where to go,
and tell me
Will love be there?
Will love be there?

Love, in all its forms, is a precious commodity in our day and age...

Give me a word
Give me a sign
Show me where to look
Tell what will I find ( will I find )
Lay me on the ground
Fly me in the sky
Show me where to look
Tell me what will I find ( will I find )

Oh, heaven let your light shine down (x4)

Love is in the water
Love is in the air
Show me where to go
Tell me will love be there ( love be there )
Teach me how to speak
Teach me how to share
Teach me where to go
Tell me will love be there ( love be there )

Oh, heaven let your light shine down (x4)

Im going to let it shine (x2)
Heavens little light gonna shine on me
Yea yea heavens little light gonna shine on me
Its gonna shine, shine on me
Its gonna shine, come on in shine