March 31 — Sunday — Happy Easter (if you celebrate such things). Today is also the day when I have to finish up the NEWS NOTES & SPINS for April 1. Doesn’t mean though that I neglected this week’s playlist post or something new that hit my desk yesterday while I was working on the spins data.
In this week’s show I pulled a tribute to Richie Furay — from his days with Buffalo Springfield from their last album, and from Poco’s first album. Is is these incredible early bands in Richie’s career that have established him as one of the most legendary of Colorado’s musicians. He’s in the studio now with John Macy and friends finishing up a new solo effort due for release this year. I have no doubt it will be yet another legacy record in his career, although for sure not all his previously released solo efforts have been all that…
VIDEO / NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK
I’m a junkie. I’m always looking for that next new hit, that next “wow” moment that releases all the feel good at one time … sometimes it’s brutally ecstatic, but then you get the occasional “on second thought” moment when you realize that there’s always that next great hit and maybe this one wasn’t all that – ya know?
Durango singer-songwriter Thom Chacon just breathed his voice on me and released that energy. I think that what I’m hearing is pretty significant – like the first time I heard Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road” in ’88 or Son Volt’s “Trace” in ’95. Those are seminal recordings, rare performances …anything that’s compared to them had better bring it – one shot – one hit – all the feel good in one huge rush. And it had better be worth more than one dose …otherwise it’s just another pissed load.
The album production notes really are the tie-off … “This record was recorded using all discrete transistor and vacuum tube technology in an all analogue format with Bob Dylan’s fabulous rhythm section (Tony Garner on bass and George Recile on drums).” The record is finished masterfully and pressed on 200 gram virgin vinyl.
Before you even get to the notes though, it’s Thom who’s offering …that early free “what’s this” thing that happens before the full rush comes on …it happens within half a song, half of the first song, the 2:29 “Innocent Man.” It’s in the voice, in the way he tells the story. In “American Dream,” the first official single and video off the album, a sense of fatalism comes into the picture with lines like “I’m worth more dead cuz baby I owe.” “Juarez, Mexico” could be a sister song to some of Dave Alvin’s folkier tomes. “Alcohol” stings as you know it does when the needle breaks the flesh – “oh, I’m sick, I’m shivering and I want nothing more than to spend time with you.” It only works if it’s pure …and Thom is every bit that – pure. At least that’s the hope now, isn’t it?
All in smooth haze and all, what I’m hearing tonight has a transcendent quality …and if not for the crowded bazaar today it seems on first blush that it could easily be considered in the same vein as…
…now, admitting you have a problem, as the first step to recovery, only works if you want to recover, right?
…yeah, no …not this time …not tonight.
Maybe tomorrow.
PLAYLIST S7 EP12
(C) = current title
(G) = gold
(R) = recurrent
(D) = debut album, ep, or single
(N) = new song from previously debuted album or ep
(G) Rick Roberts “West Wind” from She Is A Song (1973)
(G) Dan Fogelberg “Full Circle” from Full Circle (2003)
(C) Ryan Chrys “Stand & Be Counted” from A Lick & A Promise (2013)
(C) You Me and Apollo “Oh My Molly” from You Me and Apollo (2012)
(C) Johnny Hickman “Another Road” from Tilting (2012)
(R) Rachel James “We Don’t Care” from Not Giving Up (2011)
(G) Basheba Earth “Galaktik Luv” from Mothership (2006)
(R) Mahlon Hawk “Blackbird” from Black Edge (2011)
(C) Dan Treanor’s Afrosippi Band featuring Erica Brown “Tangled Road” from Tangled Road (2012)
(C) WhiteWater Ramble “Standard Deviation” from Roots & Groove (2013)
(G) Yonder Mountain String Band “Criminal” from The Show (2009)
(G) Ninth + Lincoln Orchestra “Your Cent” from Ninth & Lincoln (2008)
(G) Buffalo Springfield “Kind Woman” from Last Time Around (1968) *tribute to Richie Furay*
(G) Poco “Calico Lady” from Pickin’ Up The Pieces (1969) *tribute to Richie Furay*
(C) Chris Daniels “Sister Delores” from Better Days (2012)
(C) Jeff Brinkman Band “Ordinary Day” from Strange (2012)
(C) Lisa Bell “Bring the Love” from The Italian Project (2013)
(N) Congress “Killing Me Softly” from Loft Tapes (2013)
(C) Fierce Bad Rabbit “Carry On” from Maestro & the Elephant (2013)
(G) Freddi / Henchi and the Soulsetters “I Want to Dance, Dance, Dance” from Crown Princes of Funk: The Last Set (2010)
(R) Petals of Spain “Working 9 to 5” from Late Night Visitor (2011)
(C) Strange Americans “Plastic Pearls” from A Royal Battle (2012)
(C) Idlewhile Band “Dragonfly” from Live at the Walnut Room EP Vol 1 (2012)
(D) Matt Skellenger “My Side” from The Owls Are Not What They Seem (2013)
Chris K's Colorado Playlist 