Last year, I learned about National Train Day for the first time. Fortunately, I wasn't too far behind as Amtrak started it in 2008. For 2013 NTD, I blogged a handful of train songs ranging from funny to introspective to downright swampy. So how's about we do so again in 2014?
I'll lead with Graveyard Train by Doug and Telisha Williams who now record and tour as Wild Ponies. This one is included on Doug and Telisha's album, Ghost of the Knoxville Girl. Ghosts? Graveyards? Lonesome train whistles? Oh yeah, be afraid - very afraid - but still rock!
Next is Southbound Train by The Newton Gang. I stumbled across this one quite by accident. The song was included on the compilation CD Brooklyn Country Vol. 1 sent to me by Uncle Leon & The Alibis - who were featured in last year's set of train songs.
Songwriters like Guy Clark come along maybe once in a generation - perhaps even every two or three. Texas 1947 ranks among my favorites from Guy's long list of great songs. And it just happens to include a story about a train!
OK, so Boxcars by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper as a train song might be a stretch. But c'mon, it's got boxcars, freight trains, a Nashville Sounds baseball jersey, and a sad love song ballad by two of TMC's favorite songwriters ... and people.
Speaking of favorites, Tommy Womack sings the next one. Willie Perdue continues to stun me each time I hear it. Many of Tommy's songs make me laugh, smirk, tap my foot, laugh some more, nod in approval, cross my arms as I get pissed off, etc. But Willie from Tommy's 2000 album Stubbornmakes me sit still ... and intentionally listen. A post-high school jock with a fascination for trains chooses to hop a boxcar one summer evening...and then his life in the small town will never be the same.
I couldn't rustle up a YouTube clip of the song. Nor do I have a boot of it from any of his shows. But he did play it at the Family Wash one night a couple of years ago at my request. The patrons collectively had the same reaction as me when I listen to it. Not silence, quietness. And he honored my request again by allowing me to share the album's song here for you.
Wreck of the Old 97 is based on a true story and has been recorded by many for almost 100 years. I really dig this version by The Osborne Brothers.
Last year I featured six songs. This year I think I'll share seven. And I'll close with Driver 8 by R.E.M.
With apologies to Government Cheese and their song Fish Stick Day...
Friday's here We're excited, we're delighted Its Grout Tile Day, Grout Tile Day I can't wait for Grout Tile Day Run, run, run for the Home Depot. Yay! Grout Tile Day, Grout Tile Day G-R-O-U-T-T-I-L-E Grout Tile Day
An understanding has evolved between my wife and me over the last few years. I make arrangements to go to a couple of NASCAR races annually as frugally as possible. Score free tickets, crash on a friend's couch where possible, ride with someone else to split gas costs, drink cheap beer, etc. In return she gets to buy some expensive purse or urn, or she sets me up with a big home improvement project. Sounds like a fair trade, right? Well it isn't, but that's the price to pay for me to have some fun nonetheless.
Friday, I finally got around to starting a project for one of my 2010 trips. I installed ceramic tile above the shower in our bathroom. In terms of mega-tile, "This Old House"-type jobs, this one ranks pretty low. Still, I wondered if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
I've installed tile once before - about 10 years ago at our previous house. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing then, and I'm not sure I was a whole lot better prepared this time. I'll do lawn care, change light bulbs, paint some here and there, and am competent at rudimentary handiwork. But tiling is for keeps. Once you apply a section of thin set and install your first tile, there really isn't any turning back.
But by cracky, I was gonna knock out this job for a few reasons.
I believed I could do it. My previous tiling experience, getting do-it-yourself tips on the web, discussing the project with big box hardware store employees and exchanging ideas (and tools) with co-worker/slum lord/fellow blogger and tweeter Ozzy Nelson convinced me so.
My wife expected it. I went to my race in 2010, had an...ahem...uh...large time, was gone for 4 days and returned pretty wrung out. This project was partly to enhance the bathroom and partly my come-uppance for having such a good time with my buds.
I'm too cheap. Even if I could have bought my way out of the project by hiring someone, I really didn't want to fork over the cash to have someone do a professional version of what this amateur hack could do adequately.
Friday: 90% of tile installed. Cuts of corner pieces await
The one thing an all-day (which morphed into a multi-day) project like this allowed me to do was queue up the iPod through external speakers. As I spread thin-set, back-buttered square tiles and cussed as my corner spacers kept falling out, I enjoyed several playlists leftover from events of the past. From there, I moved on to a few specific artists and bands.
When Friday was over, it dawned on me I could have built my own playlist before the project. Based on what I listened to during the project, I may compile Tiling Tunes for that next big project. (I have three races on deck for 2011, so I know big projects are headed my way.)
Here's some tunes that seem to make sense to add to my playlist.
If I Were A Carpenter - Allison Krauss & Dwight Yoakum
What Was I Thinking - Dierks Bentley
Courage - The Tragically Hip
Width of a Line - The Rainmakers
Go Faster - Black Crowes
If I Had $1,000,000 - Barenaked Ladies
Saturday: All tile installed. Grout, de-hazing, caulk and sealing yet to go.
Hard on Equipment - Corb Lund & The Hurtin Albertans
Far From Perfect > Mr. Dependability - A Duane Jarvis double
Small Miracles - Blue Rodeo
Maybe I Can Paint Over That - Guy Clark
Going The Distance - Cake
I'm pretty proud of myself. Waste of tile was kept to a minimum. Sharp tools or tile weren't dropped that could have gouged the floor, shower or bathtub. I didn't cuss too much - at least not loudly enough for the rest of the family to hear. And none of our cats ended up with a dollop of grout in their fur.
Sunday: Grouted baby!
All in all, a successful project gets logged in the book. Tiling Tunes certainly played a key role in keying me on point.
I knew I'd leave something out in blogging about Guy Clark's Belcourt show. Guy's new song The Coat has this opening stanza.
Well the sun comes up on nowhere I got nowhere left to hide I need some scrambled eggs and whiskey on the side.
Now, while I haven't had eggs and Jack D. for breakfast before, I did have scrambled eggs with a Kraft single on top, some sausage, and a Schaefer for breakfast last May at the NASCAR race in Charlotte.
Cross another line off the bucket list. I finally got to see long-time singer-songwriter Guy Clark at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville last night.
Guy has been writing songs about as long as I've been alive. But I've really only become a regular listener and fan the last three or four years. He's probably best known for his song L.A. Freeway - but as the songwriter not as the singer. Jerry Jeff Walker covered it in the early 1970s, and it became his signature song.
Guy is getting up in years, but he and his band were on their game. They performed in a bit of a unique setting. Rather than everyone stand at microphone stands all evening, they sat in chairs and snugged the mics up to sing or to amplify their instruments. He said that's how they recorded the CD so they figured they might as well perform that way as well. During the show, guitarist Verlon Thompson was so casual at times he just propped his boot heels on his monitor as he strummed along and sang harmony vocals.
Guy played 2 sets for a total of about 2 hours - pretty good for a well-traveled man well into his 60s. Set 1 was a top to bottom look at his new CD Sometimes The Song Writes You. He proved yet again his songwriting skills have aged over time as well as a barrel of Tennessee sour mash.
Guy and the band returned after a brief intermission, and he immediately turned the next few songs over to guitarist Verlon Thompson and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Camp. These two guys blew me away with their picking, singing, and song choices.
Shawn, who played mandolin, violin, and slide during Guy's songs, picked up his guitar to play Sis Draper and Magnolia Wind - a song he co-wrote with Guy. Instead of singing it with him, Guy kicked back, turned over the stage to Shawn and Verlon for this one, crossed his arms, and smiled wryly as they played. Here's a clip of Shawn playing it a while back - not from last night - but you'll get the idea.
Then it was Verlon Thompson's turn. He played Joe Walker's Mare and had the audience cheering like crazy when he was done. Here again is a video of him playing the song - albeit not from last night. It will still give you an idea of what an amazing geetahr picker Verlon really is.
Some other highlights from last night include:
I met a guy who moved to middle Tennessee about a year ago after a lifetime in California. He and his wife have followed Guy for over 20 years. He said they used to go to the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. One year, he got to hang out a bit with Townes Van Zandt and a number of other performers in Townes' motor home. After he left for the evening, he awoke to find out Townes was still stirring around 3 AM, had gotten behind the wheel of the motor home, and then promptly ran over the ticket kiosk.
In introducing his cover of Townes' If I Needed You, Guy said "This next song was written by Townes Van Zandt. Townes couldn't be with us tonight." It was a joke at which we could all laugh. The song includes a stanza that reads:
The lady's with me now since I showed her how To lay her lily hand in mine Loop and Lil agree she's a sight to see And a treasure for the poor to find
Guy said Loop and Lil were Townes' parakeets and said he used to take them on airplanes tucked inside the pockets of his sport coat. He said he picked him up one time from the Nashville airport and Townes was sporting a grin as his jacket was flapping from the birds trying to get out.
Verlon Thompson sang a song about his mama called Darwettia's Mandolin. In the song, he refers to Greasy Bend, Oklahoma. He said its area along the river that got its name after some hog farmers and watermelon farmers got into a scrap. The story goes that after the battle the river's edge was covered in dead pigs and watermelon rinds. The whole theater was laughing.
As the show started winding down, folks started yelling out requests. Guy tried to talk over most of them, and he did agree to play a few of them. Someone up front meekly said Randall Knife, and he immediately said he'd do that one. He went immediately into it without accompaniment from the band. At the end he got a standing ovation for it, and he seemed to even shed a quick tear in acknowledgment and the memory of his dad.
Guy closed his show with a song titled Boats To Build he co-wrote with Rodney Crowell. The song was inspired by songwriter Richard Lee's boat-building hobby. Richard wrote the song Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue. Crystal Gayle turned it into her best-known country hit. Guy said "let me tell you a little secret. Richard wrote that song for his dog who had glaucoma. But I don't think he ever told Crystal Gayle."
A great night of music. I'm sorry I missed listening to him the last quarter-century, but I'm glad I'm making up for it now.
I've also learned the show was taped last night and will likely be uploaded for sharing by early next week. Let me know if you are interested in the show, and I'll help point you in the right direction once it becomes available.
Over the weekend, Rockstar Aimz blogged her playlist of favorite drinking related songs. Her title "King of Beers" caught my eye as that used to be the tagline for Budwiser - sponsor of the #9 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge.
But once I realized her entry wasn't about racing, I still read closely because her music interests mirror mine pretty closely. While I don't collect drinking songs specifically (songs with city names in their title is my forte), I had a few faves I wanted to throw into the mix. I know there are scads of songs out there on the subject across every conceivable music genre. My music of choice, however, the last 15 to 20 years has been alt-country, Americana, folk rock, or however you want to label it. And the songs below clearly reflect that bias.
Several of the songs on my faves list make their way to an annual playlist I compile for our NASCAR race weekend in Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. (Funny - hadn't thought about it until now, but none of these songs involve soft drinks.)
Out in the Parking Lot - Guy Clark
Whole Lotta Liquor to Like Her - Pete Schlegel
Ol' Milwaukee's Best - Adam Carrol
Drunk All Around This Town - Scott Miller
I Came To Drink - Chance
Sell A Lot of Beer - Warren Brothers
Horseshoe Lounge - Slaid Cleaves
One Bud Wiser - John Rich (sung here by Gretchen Wilson)
And for those of you who follow my racing blog, you know I can't leave out this one...
This is one of those blog entries where Rockstar Aimz and I could use your help. Don't just read this time - contribute. Belly up to the bar with a comment of a song or two or ten to add to our lists. Comment your additions here or at My Aimz is True - doesn't matter to me. Just comment away and relax knowing its 5 o'clock somewhere.
Click hereif you are in Nashville (or are willing to drive here) and want free tickets to any of the tapings.
The main artist I'd like to see isGuy Clark on Saturday afternoon. Even if you think you haven't heard of Guy, you've likely heard some of his songs - even if you didn't know they were his. How about L.A. Freeway recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker? Or Desperadoes Waiting On A Train?
My latest favorite song by Guy is one he wrote with Darrell Scott. Here it is being performed by Guy live at Douglas Corner Cafe in Nashville.
However - yet again - I'll be picking up my son from (where else) a scouting trip at the very time the taping begins. sigh...
There are some other great names in this line-up including Dwight Yoakum and Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon). Even ol' Mac Davis will be there. I wonder if he'll croon "Its hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way."
Every 4 years on January 20, we swear in our President of the United States. Sometimes its a new one, sometimes its a second termer. In 2009, we get a new one. I didn't vote for him, but I do wish him well. As a nation, we need him to have a successful term - however that ends up being defined. I'm pretty sure I'll disagree with just about every policy decision he'll make, but we'll see. In transitional times like these, its often easy and natural for us to take our eye off the ball a bit. Some are euphoric, some are despondent, and some are wait-and-see'ers. But we can't let our guard down against the folks who mean us harm - regardless of the political parties that are going or coming.
Rather than dwell on politics, I prefer to blog about a language common to everyone - music. And I want to recognize January 20th in doing so.
On January 20, 1991, Townes van Zandt and Guy Clark played the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Two different versions of the recorded show are floating around out there. One is a 2-disc, high-quality soundboard version. The other is a 3-disc, lower-quality version. For storage size, download speed, and sound quality reasons, I've chosen to share the 2-disc version.
I got this show in a lossless FLAC format and prefer to share it that way. It makes for a larger download, and the tracks will have to be converted to WAV or MP3 for you to listen to them. But its worth it to me for you to have the original lossless files to keep and to pass on to others in the same manner.
