Chris Kokesh and "Lucy"

Chris Kokesh is a relatively unknown singer-songwriter out of Portland with a very good release titled "October Valentine." One cut on it -- "Lucy" -- just gets it so right as a mother dying of cancer observes her two teenagers:

"My son’s just turning 15, he already tows the line
He’s so much like his father I know that he’ll be fine
Lucy is two years younger, but she smells like cigarettes
She still needs her mama, but she doesn’t know it yet"

The release is full of such gems. As Kokesh puts it: "I write songs about real people, and my audiences see themselves there. There are plenty of people who are louder and showier than I am. My strength is in my emotional connection with the song and the music. I believe in the stories I tell, and that comes through." 

To play the song, go to Chris' MySpace page and click on "Lucy"

Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Girls Like Me"

It's eerie when a song practically describes your life such as Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Girls Like Me" does mine (I'm a male).

With verses like:

"... We live alone and in our heads
We eat standing up or in our beds
Guilt and fear merge easily
In the quiet souls of girls like me ..."

and

"... and hopefulness is like a drug
It makes a girl believe in love
And if somehow you love us back
You think there’s something wrong with that ..."

Here is a recorded 'video' version.

Lori McKenna's song "That's How You Know"

Lori McKenna is a singer-songwriter unfamiliar to me but she has a stop-everything-and-listen song in "That's How You Know." It's on her "Lorraine" release.

Here's how it opens:

"When you take the train to midtown to have coffee by yourself
Pull the pictures from the drawer and put them back up on the shelf

When you hear the sound of church bells
And they don’t make you wanna cry
And you’re not getting drunk just so you can hide..."

And closes:

"...When you’re thankful that you ever knew a love this strong
When you finally find the courage to write this song

That’s how you know
That’s how you know
That’s how you know
You’re moving on"

It's an emotional powerhouse.

You can listen to it here.

Dar Williams and her "After All" song

Dar Williams has quite the number of exceptional songs and "After All" is deserving of inclusion in that category. It's riveting, chock full of lyrics emitting meaning for so many. Based on their respective life experiences, ten separate people would each probably choose a different set of lyrics.

Here's mine:

"...Growing up, my mom had a room full of books
and hid away in there
Her father raging down a spiral stair
'Til he found someone
Most days his son..."

and

"..We will push on into that mystery
And it'll push right back
And there are worse things than that..."

It's fascinating, a little bit scary but also comforting when an artist hits close to home.


Here Williams is performing it.

I do have a nitpicking question though. Does this line from the song work for you?


"...it worked me over like a work of art..."

Wouldn't "it worked me over like a piece of art" be better?

Sorry Dar.

A review of the Joe Crookston CD "Darkling and the BlueBird Jubilee"

First, it was "The Sylvan Song" and "Fall Down As The Rain" as musical highlights in the CD with the latter song as the title.

Then came the release of a host of compelling compositions with "Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog" ("John Jones," "Freddy the Falcon," "Brooklyn in July," "Blue Tattoo" as well as the title cut) generally featuring historical events and figures in and around Ithaca, New York and the state itself.

With "Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee," Joe Crookston re-enters the realm of storytelling: especially spiritual and with the carving out of room for listener interpretation, paving the way for individual takeaway from the various tales.

The Highlights

"Good Luck John" depicts the yin-yang of instantaneously ascribing a value judgment to life's events minus any period of time-passing perspective, and also not. Label it the gauging of happenings as a 'it just is what it is -- at least for the time being' portrayal.

In the mental illness and family-driven "The Nazarene," Crookston amply demonstrates his songwriting motif in which observations/facts are again offered without the tipping point weight of positive or negative being attached. Two examples are: 

" ...Mom thinks she's Jesus Christ the Nazarene ..."

"... down the hall into the room where the other prophets are ..."

Such 'epithets' as crazy or sick are not utilized, yet portrayed, because the illness isn't the point, or at least not the primary focus.

"The Nazarene" is the most haunting and compelling cut. Given radio play, this song will be a stop-listeners-in-their-tracks composition.

In the title cut "Darkling and the BlueBird Jubilee," Crookston starkly illustrates that objects and even life itself can be wrestled away but not values and how one lives life. A key lines: 

"... where love and persistence are the alter where I kneel ..."

Another captivating cut, "Caitlin at the Window," intertwines the lives of Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin McNamara Thomas. From the perspective of the latter, it reflects on the haunting of their tumultuous twining and his final resting place in Lougharne, Wales (which also became hers). 

"I Sing" is philosophical gospel blues set to a banjo background.

In "Everything Here Is Good," all unfurls in an almost effortless flow (that's one of Crookston's major artistic skills). Give it a listen and you'll understand.

Sounding as if straight out of a hymnal but never directly affiliating with such is the backbone of "A Friend Like You."

What Crookston has done with the liner notes for each song dovetails with the overall arc of the release. The offering for the title cut, "Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee," reads: good? bad? hope. cynicism. triumph? be. accept. struggle. battle. accept. good? bad? evil. dark. light. transcend. continue. overcome.

Two other elements that remains constant throughout Crookston's work are his 'nothing is forced, all seems organic' inviting vocals and the instrumentation surrounding his lyrics. Concerning the latter, he brings to mind Martin Simpson, who during his period fronting the group "Band of Angels," would improvise with guitar play in between songs and what that produced was just as engaging as anything on the set list.

There are stories told here, maybe not as fully sketched as those on "Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog." This one is in the vein of "The Sylvan Song" -- more left to the perception and discernment of the listener.

"Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee" is definitely one of the top releases of the year, a very enjoyable compilation. Crookston may be under-recognized but his multi-faceted musical strengths make him one of the best today.

PLAYLIST

"I Sing - 2:33
"Caitlin At The Window" - 4:17
"Mercy Now" - 5:10 Mary Gauthier)
"Good Luck John" - 3:42
"The Nazarene" - 4:42
"Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee" - 3:20
"Everything Here is Good" - 3:21
"Wilderness Alone" - 3:21
"Blue" - 3:43
"A Friend Like You" - 3:22
"To Keep You Warm" - 2:46
"Darkling/Bluebird (Fear & Transcend) - 3:59

Joe Crookston's site

John Prine's "Christmas In Prison"

Christmas (aka the Holidays) are supposed to be a time of great joy and cheer but sometimes circumstances prevent such celebrating.

Musically, John Prine captures this most poignantly with his *Christmas In Prison."

It's definitely downer material but the song eloquently captures the sentiment and that makes it a moving listen.

Tom Russell's entry into the Folk Pantheon

Mike Regenstreif calls Tom Russell “the best songwriter of my generation” and initially that seemed a stretch to me. Russell has been a favorite of mine but I've tended to put the more literate singer-songwriters (we're talking Dave Carter territory) on my highest pedestal. 

But in reviewing Russell's output (not even considering his releases of late as he's shattered and stomped on the mold of running out of things to say as a performer ages) and his genre-crossing talents, he deserves such rightful recognition.

The Russell songs that connect with me the most:

* "U.S. Steel" with that great line: "My ex-boss Mr Goodwin, he keeps shaking my one good hand..." - Russell never names the culprits behind the individual decimation he is describing, just the effects, and that's a teaching moment decision for me 

* "Gallo Del Cielo" - his yips are an unexpected plus and this: anyone else have a stirring song about cockfighting?

* "The Sky Above, The Mud Below" featuring these descriptive verses:

"...Now the Deacon was a preacher who had fallen hard from grace
He owned the bar and a string of quarter horses that he'd race
Yea, Deacon he could drink and curse, though he still quoted sacred verse
He was sheriff, judge; he owned the hearse, a man you did not anger..." 

and
 

"...Well the trial commenced and ended quick they didn't have a hope
Deac says we'll cut your hair now boys and you can braid yourselves a rope
The Old Testament, it says somewhere eye for eye and hair for hair
Covet not thy neighbors mare, I believe it’s Revelations..." 

* "Manzanar" - this detailing of the Japanese-American internment during WWII will cause you to pause and ponder

* "Big Water" - with Russell and Iris Dement trading off verses and the line about his wife and kid, a pair of old hound dogs and a Sears and Roebuck canoe, it is simply classic

* "Isaac Lewis" - is as good as any of the lost-at-sea celtic and UK genre

* "Tonight We Ride" - is simply a cowboy song with an extremely engaging rhythm

* "The Angel of Lyon" - featuring: 

"...And he sang Ave Maria 
Or at least the parts he knew..." 

Yes, it's a minor point (maybe) but who writes that a character sings a song and then continues with a description about the lyrics, and not the vocals  -- what caused Russell to make such a decision? 

and

"He had a vision of Anne Marie
With a rosary in her hand
So it's exit the rainmaker
The old gray flannel man..."

There's more single-minded focus featured later in the song but those last two lines in the above are just descriptively perfect.

* "The Man from God Knows Where" - the entire folk opera

Being Irish probably genetically predisposes me to enjoying it but what an undertaking and his carrying it off is an absolute joy.

Holes

I'm not sure why this coalesced in my brain but I just got thinking about songs with the word/subject 'holes' in them and these three songs, each by a different artist, immediately came to mind. All carry quite the emotional impact:

"We all got holes to fill
And them holes are all that's real"

Townes Van Zandt performing "To Live is To Fly" - lyrics for "To Live is To Fly"

"There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes"

John Prine performing "Sam Stone" - lyrics for "Sam Stone"

"There's a hole in the middle of a pretty good life"

Bob Franke performing "For Real"- lyrics for "For Real"

Bob Franke

* "For Real" (can also be found on Bob's MySpace page)

* "A Still, Small Voice"

* "Hard Love" (can also be found on Bob's MySpace page)

* "Thanksgiving Eve"

* "Alleluia, The Great Storm Is Over"

The above are a quintet from the Bob Franke Songbook and are more compelling than any fivesome furnished by Gershwin or Sousa.

This isn't a knock against the pair at all -- just praise for the level of Franke's creative artistry and indicating his rightful place in the pantheon American songwriters.

Money may not follow talent but Franke at least has the satisfaction that his inspirations rightfully share a spot with the best America has enjoyed.