This Mornin' I Am Born AgainListen. Get Re-Born

Hey. I’m still here.

Just to prove it, here are some sweet jams that will no-doubt match the sonic quality you always find here. These songs are all new to my library, and all happen to come from the Lone Star State – or somewhere very near.

Walt Wilkins – Gypsy Line
buy Vigil (2009)
Walt Wilkins is another one of the hundreds of brilliant songwriters we have hiding down here in Texas. His fluent way with words is matched by his effortlessly smooth vocal ability. Walt’s been making music since ‘02 and has had a number of his songs featured by Pat Green. Vigil, Walt’s fifth album, was released in June of this year.

Walt: [Website][MySpace][Facebook]

Mike McClure Band – Find It In You
buy Onion (2009)
McClure’s 7th solo album, Onion, is yet another batch of tunes cooked up in his basement-turned studio. For this veteran songwriter/producer, pumping out albums is not the chore it once was. Mike’s already talking about another album in the works. Let’s hope he keeps supplying us with his work at this pace.

Mike: [Website][MySpace]

Cross Canadian Ragweed – Pretty Lady
buy Happiness And All The Other Things (2009)
Happiness… marks Ragweed’s tenth album and 2009 marks 15 years that this band has been kickin’ around. Produced by the aforementioned McClure, this album takes on a slightly different feel than their ealier works, but still has that classic Ragweed swagger. They were, by far, my favorite band throughout most of my adolescence, and I’m glad to see that the guys are still making good music and seem to be a genuine as ever.

CCR: [Website][MySpace][Facebook]

Stephanie Briggs – Good Guess
buy Birds Barely Know Us (2009)
I found Stephanie in the liner notes to the above mentioned album – she co-wrote a handful of songs with Cody Canada, offered some vocal help, and even designed the album art for Happiness… Stephanie’s got a fun, quirky vocal delivery overlaid with electric guitars and interesting arrangement. She’s much edgier than the other ‘Texas’ bands she associates with – in a good way. Glad I looked her up.

Stephanie: [Website][MySpace][Facebook]

photo by Alexandra Valenti

The Happen-Ins – Die
You may remember me mentioning that the two main pieces of Austin’s Dedringers parted ways earlier this year. Sean Faires went on to form The Happen-Ins with the help of some other talented Austin musicians. I’ve since caught the band live a few times, and I’m more impressed each time. They play dirty, groovy blues/rock with infectious hooks and energetic vocals. I have a feeling after next year’s SXSW, things are gonna be happenin’ for these guys. This tune is from a demo I got my hands on – hopefully a taste of a soon-to-come full album.

Happen-Ins: [MySpace][Facebook]

I shared a track from Nashville based band-of-brothers, The Medders, a while back. Since then, ‘Gunslinger’ has been on a heavy rotation in my player. It’s the only track to be released from their upcoming self-titled debut (September 1), although you can stream some more tracks on their MySpace.

Found a link in my inbox today to the official video for Gunslinger. Enjoy.

The Medders: [Website][Facebook][MySpace]

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Cover/Uncovered. I came across one of the following tunes earlier today and quickly realized this song should’ve been one of the first examined for this feature post.

Songwriting credits are a somewhat debated topic when it comes to The Band. I remember reading once that Robbie Robertson had the biggest part in constructing this one, but I like to think Levon and the rest of the gang did their fair share. The tune takes place in the town of Nazareth (in Pennsylvania) – the home of the Martin Guitar Company – and features a cast of interesting characters encountered around town. Robertson says of the song:

In “The Weight” it was this very simple thing. Someone says, “Listen, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say ‘hello’ to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You’re going to Nazareth, that’s where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you’re there.” This is what it’s all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it’s like “Holy Shit, what’s this turned into? I’ve only come here to say ‘hello’ for somebody and I’ve got myself in this incredible predicament.”

Live, ‘The Weight’ is absolutely epic. The ever-growing number of verses, multi-part harmonies, and irresistible crowd interaction combine to make the tune a live staple. And not only for The Band. Just check out the Wiki page to see an immense list of folks that have been known to include the The Weight in their sets. The song was a nightly standard at most of the ‘Texas Music/Red Dirt’ shows I attended throughout high school and college, nearly matching the encore-worthy popularity of Cross Canadian Ragweed’s Boys From Oklahoma.

Cover: Cody Canada, et al – The Weight
Cody (of Cross Canadian Ragweed) is joined in an acoustic set by Mike McClure, Stoney LaRue, Jason Boland, and the then just sprouting Ryan Bingham. McClure adds a little comedy when he botches his verse, only to improvise a freestyle rhyme. The performance is highlighted by Stoney’s chilling vocals.

The following song (and video) is one I’ve been studying up on lately, as in less than two weeks, I will head East to Tennessee to catch two performances of The Big Surprise Tour – Old Crow Medicine Show, The Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, all joined on stage by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. You couldn’t ask for a better folk lineup in today’s music world (well maybe if you added The Avetts in there). But more on this later – I plan on doing some kind of pre-road trip post regarding the shows.

Cover: Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, OCMS – The Weight
I love that these guys take the song back to its roots, slowing it down and revealing the true beauty in the melody. These six folks can make any song sound like it was born out of bluegrass, but it really shines here.

As good as Stoney sounds when he says “and he caught me in the fog” or Willie does when he belts “if you take Jack, my dog,” neither gives me the feeling I get when Levon Helm begins The Band’s version.

Uncovered: The Band – The Weight
purchase Music From Big Pink (1968)
Uncovered: The Band – The Weight (live at The Palladium, 1976)

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More C/U at This Mornin’ I Am Born Again:

Cover/Uncovered: Obscure Covers – 10.22.2008
Cover/Uncovered: Slaid Cleaves – 9.30.2008
Cover/Uncovered: Dead Leaves – 9.10.2008
Cover/Uncovered: Mike McClure – 4.26.2008
Cover/Uncovered: II – 3.2.2008
Cover/Uncovered: I – 3.2.2008

A couple Thursdays ago, I shot over to Austin just in time to catch Deer Tick tear down Emo’s. The Providence boys were obviously not accustomed to Texas heat, and thus were all shirtless by song number 2. That helped open the door for what would turn out to be a no-holds-barred, raucous evening complete with flying beer, John McCauley on the drums, and even a little crowd surfing (see below). I managed to keep my new camera safe and even snagged a few shots worth keeping.

I had a quick conversation with John after the show, in which he mentioned that he had been by This Mornin’… before. Pretty cool. So, John, if you’re reading this, leave a shout out down below. I then saw someone walking by with a white cardboard sleeve just about 7 inches square. Checking with the merch table, my suspicions were confirmed. So here you are, folks, the newest Deer Tick track to hit the web. A seven-inch vinyl-only single, exclusively at www.ThisMornin.com:

Deer Tick – La Bamba (vinyl rip)

Wikipedia says:
‘La Bamba’ is a Mexican folk song that was made popular in 1958 by the late Ritchie Valens. The la bamba is a traditional Mexican dance performed at weddings (along with the song). Valens’ version infused rock ‘n roll with traditional Mexican instruments and rhythms. ‘La Bamba’ is the only non-English song to make Rolling Stones’ list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (#345).

The boys split this 7″ with The Shivers – a NYC based rock/experimental group, and I have to say I rather enjoy the groove.

The Shivers – Shallow Water (vinyl rip)

In other Deer Tick news, a slew of live sets were linked from their twitter today. They recently did a ‘LaundroMatinee‘ set for MyOldKentuckyBlog. The set features Houston, TX, These Old Shoes, The Dance of Love, Dirty Dishes, and Dead Flowers. You can download the mp3’s here. My personal favorite from the collection:

Check out a brand new song John and Dennis debuted at their Waterloo Records in-store performance the day of their show at Emo’s:

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More Viva la Vinyl at This Mornin’….

Whiskeytown’s Record Store Day 7″ – 4.30.09
Viva la Vinyl: Ryan Adams Set – 4.15.09
Whiskeytown’s Theme For A Trucker – 2.20.09

The other night, I was watching upcoming movie trailers on my phone and came across a handful of music-related films/ documentaries that really piqued my interest. So here they are:

‘It Might Get Loud’ is a documentary following a meeting between 3 generations of guitar virtuosos: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. Jimmy Page is a legend, but somewhat before my time, U2 just doesn’t do it for me, but I’m excited to see Jack White in this film. And judging from this trailer alone, he seems to be the most interesting part of it.

‘Taking Woodstock’ is Ang Lee’s (Brokeback, Crouching Tiger) inspired by a true story take on the events of August 1969 in Bethel, NY. Demitri Martin, Eugene Levy, and Emile Hirsch are among the stars of what looks to be like a pretty entertaining film.

‘The Boat That Rocked’ is another based on a true story film, directed by Richard Curtis. In The 1960’s, before England’s elite embraced the power of Rock ‘n Roll, the only way to broadcast the music was from a soverign boat off the coast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman leads a cast of young British rebels who just want to rock.

Lately I’ve really been trying to give a listen to more of the music that gets emailed to me. It’s a rather astonishing amount, so to make the process feasible, I tend to skip (delete) anything with the words ambient pop, electro, new wave, or hip-hop. Still, that leaves a lot to sort through. Good thing for me, I’ve always been good at making quick, impulsive, and very rarely wrong musical approval decisions.

Here are some recent press-released songs to come through my inbox that made the grade.

The Duke and The King – The Morning I Get To Hell

First off, one that didn’t take me long to download. I’ve mentioned Simone Felice and Robert Chicken Burke’s new project The Duke and The King before. I was emailed this track along with some news on the band’s album, Nothing Gold Can Stay. Ramseur Records will release the album August 4th.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]

The Medders – Gunslinger

Nashville bands that toe the line between country and rock are a dime-a-dozen, but The Medders stand out, if only from this one track I’ve gotten my hands on. No doubt more will follow. This band – 3 of them brothers – is made up of the musically-infused offspring of songwriter Jule Medders. Look for their self-titled debut September 1st.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]

The Do – Tammie

This French-Finnish band The Do (pronounced ‘dough’ as in do-re-mi) is nearly undeniably pop, but something about them is very alluring. Lately, I’ve seen their name show up all over the place, and I bet that trend will continue.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]


These next few tracks come courtesy of AmieStreet.com. They sent me a link to a free folk-based playlist of new artists to check out, and these are the best surprises from it.

Dr. Dog – The Old Days

I caught wind of this band when this memorable album cover could be found on numerous ‘best of the year’ lists. Dr. Dog has been kicking around since ‘01, but are just recently gaining the notoriety they deserve. With it’s catchy, constant piano riff, I’m surprised this song hasn’t been snatched up for an Apple commercial.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]

Motel Motel – Coffee

I now have a couple tracks from Brooklyn indie-rockers Motel Motel. They sound a bit like a rootsy-er Kings of Leon, but for the simple fact that they’re not, I like ‘em more. After looking around the blogosphere for some more info on them, I realized I missed the bus on this band sometime last year. But, hey, it’s never too late for music like this.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]

Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Shampoo

Folk music generally employs simple, traditional stringed instruments, but Elvis Perkins in Dearland doesn’t follow any rules. They overlay these elements with huge horn sections and ramshackle flow. Elvis Perkins and his band have a slew of tour dates in the near future, including an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival.

[Website][MySpace][Purchase]

You can still download the entire free playlist from AmieStreet here. While you’re there, go ‘head and load up some funds in your account – if you don’t know, AmieStreet has a demand-based pricing system. That is, albums and songs are super-cheap when they’re first added and the amount of downloads they receive drives the price up gradually. Songs cap out at 98 cents.

Most of these tunes, I checked out only while writing this post. As you probably are, I’m pleasantly surprised at what I just heard, so I’m off to use up my eMusic downloads (which by a glorious coincidence re-upped today) on more music from these folks. As always, I suggest you do the same.

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More Mailbox Music on This Mornin’ I Am Born Again…
Bomb, Bomb, Bomb – Bombadil II 6.2.09
Christmas Edition 12.14.08
Bomb, Bomb, Bomb – Bombadil I 4.15,08
Mailbox Music I 4.9.08

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I’ve purchased the domain www.ThisMornin.com.

One of goals this summer is to give the ol blog a new look – and I figured the best place to start was with a dedicated domain. From there, I may change to WordPress or another format that allows for more freedom in the layout. If you have any experience with this ’switchover’ please let me know your thoughts.

So feel free to update your bookmarks, links, etc. I’m not sure if the RSS feeds will need to be updated, but I’ll try to keep you posted. Until the move is finalized, http://thismornin.blogspot.com will still work – it simply redirects you to http://www.thismornin.com.

**For the time being, the ‘www’ is required. I will try to work this out over the weekend.

Here’s another set of new tunes I’ve been diggin’ on to help get you through your week.

Every so often, I’ll burn a CD of ‘loosies’ – random songs that I grab off music blogs that are normally the only tracks I own from a particular band. Sometimes I’ll forget what songs are on the disc when it makes it into the player in my truck. It’s kinda like mystery CD, and often I’m very pleasantly surprised at what I hear. The tracks today are from my newest ‘Random New Stuff’ CD.

Great Bloomers – Speak of Trouble
I grabbed this song over at Captain Obvious a while back. It’s definitely been my most played tune over the last few weeks. This three-fold melody/tempo change keeps the song fresh and interesting. I just picked up the rest of this album (from which this title track comes) on eMusic and I suggest you do the same.

Great Bloomers: [Website][MySpace][iTunes][eMusic]

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Drain The Blood
I had seen this band pop up nearly everywhere for quite a while, but never payed too much attention. That all changed when I heard this song on my latest new mix.

Rural Alberta Advantage: [Website][MySpace][iTunes][eMusic]

Theresa Andersson – Birds Fly Away
Found this soulful songstress thanks to Nelson at Fifty Cent Lighter. I love the how cheery mood set by the various instruments in contrasted by Theresa’s sultry voice.

Theresa Andersson: [Website][MySpace][iTunes][eMusic]

Maria Taylor with Andy LeMaster – A Good Start
Maria Taylor has been making music for quite a while now. I first learned about her when she helped collaborate with Conor Oberst in Bright Eyes (you can see her playing the drums in the Four Winds video). This tune is simply beautiful – kinda like Maria.

Maria Taylor: [Website][MySpace][iTunes][eMusic]

Enjoy Responsibly….

It’s June. Wow.
This month I will hit the quarter-century mark in my life.
Kinda scary.

I like having a June birthday – it splits the year perfectly in half. This way, I’m never more than six months away from a substantial gift, either from the family or as a treat to myself. I’m hoping to get a real camera this year – a digital SLR. I’m fairly certain I wanna go with Canon/Nikon, but I don’t know which, so shoot me a line if you have any intel on the matter.

However, I did just spoil myself with a brand new iPhone and I’m pretty sure it’s already changed my life in less than a week. The fact that I’m such a fan of iTunes/iPod/now the iPhone makes me wonder why I haven’t yet made a full-on MAC switch.

Having the world at my hands with a simple tap has reawakened my quest for music across the web as well as my desire to get back to regular posting here. I’ve re-upped my RSS feeds on the new phone to reflect a handful of new blogs I’ve been reading, been listening to Pandora again lately, and I’ve been refining my music library with artwork and details so my iPhone looks as good as it’s supposed to.

To help quell the lack of updates here, I’ve been going through the list of feature posts (sidebar) with the intention of getting out a couple new editions each week. New Digs has easily been the most prolific post feature here; this post making the total 22.

Middle Distance Runner – Brother John

I came across this DC band by accident. I thought I was clicking on a link to a cover of the song ‘Middle Distance Runner’ (Sea Wolf) by a band named Brother John. I obviously had this backwards but was surprised to really enjoy what I was hearing. As I checked out all the songs I could find from MDR, I was continually impressed. This band strays slightly from my usual realm with their subtle electronic/hip-hop influence, but I can’t seem to get enough. They sound a little like Spoon (heavy piano riffs, hand claps, etc.) and, interestingly, a little like Sea Wolf.

Middle Distance Runner – Momma

Middle Distance Runner: MySpace/eMusic/iTunes/Website

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – Stop The Bus
from This Is Somewhere (2007)

I had seen Grace and her band mentioned in alt-country circles for a while, but hadn’t payed much attention until I learned that ex-Cardinal Catherine Popper was now thumpin’ bass for them. The addition of the long-legged bassist with the already smokin’ Grace makes this band an equally visual and aural knockout. ‘They have a new album nearly complete, although it has no title, produced by T-Bone Burnett. It’s Grace and band’s third studio album.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals: MySpace/iTunes/Website

Those Darlins – Whole Damn Thing

Another band that, for whatever reason, I simply passed up despite numerous mentions is Those Darlins. They’ve opened for such acts as Deer Tick and Dan Auerbach and played at this year’s SXSW. The subtle hints of punk influence fused with undeniable country roots make this female trio one to watch out for. I’m not too late jumping on their bandwagon though, because they have yet to release their debut album. You can pre-order it now on VINYL and CD. Also check out their Wild One [Single] at the links below.

Those Darlins: MySpace/eMusic/iTunes/Website

As always, enjoy responsibly.
Go to shows.
Buy their stuff.
Tell your friends.

Check out all the past New Digs….

Awww Yea-uh!

Back again with a handful of tunes I’ve been diggin’ on lately.
You know the drill: listen… enjoy… buy.

Wilco – Jolly Banker
A couple weeks ago, Wilco made this Woody Guthrie cover tune available for download on their site. It’s another example of music completely transcending time and history – the satirical song that was penned back in the dust bowl days as a slight to the fat-pocketed bankers rings just as true today. Nice choice Jeff. In related news, Wilco has announced their newest effort will be titled Wilco (The Album) and will feature a special appearance from Feist. Pick it up June 30th.

Sara Watkins – Will We Go
Sara Watkins was once 1/3 of the bluegrass-crossover giant Nickel Creek. Both Chris Thile and Sara’s brother Sean dabbled in solo albums throughout the bands’ tenure, but Sara has just released her debut solo album. The self-titled effort is well worth your time – especially if you are/were a Nickel fan – if only because of her fiddle skills and the fact that Gillian & Dave make an appearance. Buy It.

The Duke & The King – If You Ever Get Famous
I mentioned that Simone Felice decided to leave his band of brothers earlier this year. His new outfit, The Duke & The King, features Simone and Robert Chicken Burke. Their US debut, Nothing Gold Can Stay, will be available in August through Ramseur Records.

Band of Annuals – Blood On My Shirt
I came to know of Salt Lake City folk group Band of Annuals thanks to a reader recommendation (thanks Jeff). This six-piece band creates great folk rock, highlighted by a male-female vocal combo that sounds a lot like This Mornin’… favorite The Gougers. Get their latest album, Let Me Live, here.

J. Tillman – When I Light Your Darkened Door
Fleet Foxes drummer Josh Tillman recently recorded a session over at Daytrotter, showcasing some of his amazing solo work. It’s mostly mellow, sounding somewhat like a mix between Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. This tune is from Cancer and Delirium. He more recently put out Vacilando Territory Blues.

Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) – It Ain’t Me Babe
I found a nice video of Fleet Foxes’ frontman doing his best Dylan – and ripped the audio for you.