The Colorado Sound S9 EP18 May 2015

Short and to the point – here’s this week’s playlist.  Everything else will be in the May 1 News Notes and Spins column … It’s been a crazy couple of weeks with the Denver Music Summit, FOCOMX, and Spokebuzz.  Lots of things shaking.  Stay tuned. In the meantime, In the Whale pretty much never ceases to surprise – check out this week’s new music share and don’t forget to hit up the new Offstage Beyond the Music segment with Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore.

PLAYLIST S9 EP18 MAY 2015

HOUR 1

Joe Walsh “Here We Go” from Barnstorm (1972)
Sugarloaf “Country Dawg” from Spaceship Earth (1971)
(D) In The Whale “Mail” from Full Nelson (2015) Yawpers “Sister Mary” from Spokesbuzz Volume 4 (2014)
The Swayback “Queen’s Dance” from Long Gone Lads (2008)
Todd Adelman “Right Before You Said Hello” from Highways & Lowways (2015)
Leftover Salmon “Sing Up To the Moon” from Aquatic Hitchhiker (2012)
Lion Drome “Winter” from Curve of the Earth (2014)
El Toro de la Muerte “Like A Ghost” from Dancer These Days (2011)
Elephant Revival “Birds and Stars” from These Changing Skies (2013)
Rose Quartz “Something to Believe” from Axis of Love (2015)
The Motet “Afro Disco Beat” from Instrumental Dissent (2007)

HOUR 2

Acoustic Junction “Every Heart” from Strange Days (2000)
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Rocksteady” from Rocksteady (2010)
(D) Otis Taylor “Peggy Lee” from Hey Joe Opus Red Meat (2015)
Brothers Keeper “Cold Rain” from Todd Meadows (2014)
Pandas & People “Still Young” from Pandas & People (2014)
Drew Schofield “Break It Down” from 150 Million (-1) (2014)
Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore “Train Home” from Love Runner (2014)
(N) Ivory Circle “And I Try” from Isoceles (2015) Fierce Bad Rabbit “Crystall Ball” from Living Asleep (2014)
Ben Markley ~ Clint Ashlock Quintet “Chasing Light” from The Return (2014)

Otis Taylor – Hey Joe Redux

otis taylor hey joe opusFirst impression: What an odd record.  Two versions of “Hey Joe,” each over 7 minutes long + 4 instrumental cuts + four story songs.  It’s the arrangement of the album that makes it unique among Otis’ 14 releases; the story songs mixed with instrumental interludes, glued by Hey Joe, done in contrasting “voices” / personalities… designed and arranged to be heard in order, in one sitting.  It’s the beginning to end listen that’s important here – a single piece of work.

“Hey Joe” has been recorded and released by over 400 artists since it first came out in 1967 by the Leaves (and by countless millions of lesser named artists no doubt).  Otis himself recorded it with his daughter Cassie for the album Recapturing the Banjo (2008).  Covering it twice on the same album? Wow, that takes balls.  If the memory of the song is framed by Hendrix, Otis stands right next in line as the personification of the emotional intensity of the story – and of the impact of decisions we make in our lives.

“Red Meat” and “Peggy Lee” will likely be the most played cuts from “Hey Joe Opus Red Meat” at non-comm radio around the state.  As part of the whole the songs help make the album virtually impossible to categorize simply, jumping across Americana-country, psychedelic rock, jazz, blues, and folk.  Otis calls what he does Trance Blues, and he promotes the Trance Blues Festival.  This singular piece moves Otis far closer to composer/arranger than traditional bluesman.

Guests include Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, The Dead, Allman Brothers Band), Billy Nerschi (String Cheese Incident), singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim and guitarist Daniel Sproul (the Black Crowes, Warren Haynes).

The Colorado Sound S9|EP17 April/May 2015

Day 2 Denver Music Summit.  The Future of the Music Business + an industry round table with about 20 or so local, regional, and out of state musicians and industry personnel.  I think the big takeaway for me was realizing we’re sitting in a pretty good place here in Colorado.

UCD Professor Storm Gloor covered the current trends and fast changing technologies that are shaping the near future, without prognosticating on what may or may not happen years from now.  And the round table discussion I took part in more or less reinforced what I already felt, that despite the nearly horrific rise in the price of housing our creative community continues to set a standard looked at and talked about coast to coast – and that the only thing missing are jobs in publishing, licensing, and management and booking agencies, which for now at least are still safely settled on either coast.

Another pretty big takeaway from the weekend was verification that 18-24 and 45-64 audiences exist for both music discovery and live music attendance, and it’s the 25-44 crowd that’s largely absent at live music events, but still the most desired radio audience for advertisers.  This has been true for a few decades now.

The question was brought up, when the last of the baby boomers (now 50) pass on through, what happens?  After all, how many acts can still fill stadiums?  Jagger et.al. are now in their mid-seventies .. the youngest members left of the WWII generation … and the average age of the average touring musician today is 52, at the youngest end of the boomer generation.  One of the most likely outcomes is the demise of the full on stadium show and a rise in smaller venues (in the 1500+ seat range) and festival events.  Who is the next act or acts capable of doing stadium shows?

Video Pick of the Week

I had my camera with me, but as usual it was the spontaneous “oh crap I’d better shoot some stuff” moment that compelled me to take it out the holster and actually push record.  Here’s just a taste of what I saw on Saturday night.  I did a full audio recording of the DMS, but haven’t had time to review and edit.

PLAYLIST S9|EP17

HOUR 1

Mollie O’Brien “When I’m Gone” from Things I Gave Away (2000)
Yo, Flaco! “Skeptamistic” from Skeptamistic (2001)
John Common “The River Is Moving” from The River Is Moving (2015)
Tennis “Bad Girls” from Ritual In Repeat (2014)
Fierce Bad Rabbit “Time Machine” from Maestro & the Elephant (2013)
Plum “Behind Your Man” from Behind Your Man (2015)
Devotchka “Transliterator” from A Mad & Faithful Telling (2008)
John Statz “One Way Opens” from Tulsa (2015)
Montropo “Something to See” from Follow Me (2015)
Danielle Ate the Sandwich “Like A King” from Like A King (2012)
Railsplitters “Met That Day” from The Faster It Goes (2015)
Rich Lamb “Deja Blues” from Music Along the Way (2008)

HOUR 2

Leftover Salmon & Cracker “Low” from Oh Cracker, Where Art Thou? (2003)
(D) Raven and the Writing Desk “On A Wire” from some get started (2015)
(N) Natalie Walker “Nothing Lasts Forever” from Strange Bird (2015)
OneRepublic “Feel Again” from Native (2012)
Calder’s Revolvers “Leave Ya Be” from Sunday Morning (2014)
Bill Frisell “Messin’ with the Kid” from Guitar In the Space Age (2014)
Hazel Miller Band “I’m Still Looking” from I’m Still Looking (2001)
Drag the River “Not That Kind” from Drag The River (2013)
(N) Todd Adelman “Cold Mississippi Blues” from Highways & Lowways (2015)
Head for The Hills “Take Me Back” from Blue Ruin (2013)
Brad Goode “St. Louis Blues” from Chicago Red (2013)