5-19-12 - "Anything Worth Anything" ~ Rachael Johnson

A few weeks ago, my job had me travel to Nashville to work on a prototype system we have set up with a customer.  Same prototype that had my in Tennessee twice last year, but this time I was there all week and had a bit more time to enjoy the city.  Plus, it was spring instead of winter, so the city was coming out of its shell a bit and more lively this time around.


Last year, I stumbled across a girl with some pipes in one of the honky tonk / bar establishments on Broadway (downtown Nashville).  When I found out I'd be back in town, I checked her website, and sure enough, she was playing at a different venue right down the street.  As is the nature of bar entertainment, she and her band were playing a bunch of covers, from Beatles to Bon Jovi.  I put in a request for her original song, "Arizona", which I'd heard her play last year.  Since I already posted that song back then, here's an introspective ballad where Rachael Johnson reflects on the trials of her musical journey and trying to make a living in one of the musical meccas of the world:

And a live performance:

"Anything worth anything don't come easy..."

1-27-12 - "January Wedding" ~ The Avett Brothers

With a few performances on TV lately and word that their new album is fast approaching, I've been getting excited about The Avett Brothers again lately.  I've waxed eloquent on several previous occasions about the boys, and even posted a song with a month in the title before.  So I'll spare you the rehash of all that, and present you with this sweet, simple love song:


(live)

(album)

"And I was sick with heartache

And she was sick like Audrey Hepburn when I met her...

…no longer does it matter what circumstances we were born in

She knows which birds are singin' 

And the names of the trees where they're performin' in the mornin'…"

12-14-11 - "Cathedrals" ~ Jump, Little Children

Here's a beautiful track from a group who are no longer together.  The subdued string section is woven together with the guitar for a tapestry to backdrop the powerful lyrics. The intensity of the longing to find meaning in life, and find "home", is staggering.  Probably you've had times when you felt that way; I know I have.  There's a lot about the world that is depressing, and even the masterpieces (man-made, like cathedrals, or natural) are prone to decay into entropy.  Yet, the beauty of these things gives us hope, and a desire to preserve the existing wonders of the world, and perhaps to create some new ones.


There are probably ties to human relationships here as well - home doesn't have to be a a physical location; sometimes it's finding the right group of people who make you feel comfortable and loved.


This unofficial fan-made video has some starkly contrasting visuals:

"In the shadows of tall buildings

Of open arches endlessly kneeling

Sonic landscapes echoing vistas

Someone is listening from a safe distance..."

12-03-11 - "November Blue" ~ The Avett Brothers

So I intended to be all clever and post this song in November, but I plumb forgot.  Lucky for you, it also mentions December, so I can still use it and feel somewhat clever.  But even if it were May, the song is amazing.

It's from the early days of The Avett Brothers, so it's much more raw than the more polished recordings of the "Emotionalism" and "I and Love and You" albums.  The emotions are just as raw and powerful.  The intensity of the feelings expressed will pull you right into the moment.  Pretty much all of us can relate on some level - whether it be a fleeting crush who doesn't reciprocate, or an extended relationship derailed when one lover moves away.

Here's the Crackerfarm backstage recording of Scotty A. singing the tune, from Kent, OH in 2008 (my bro and some good buddies were at the show, but I missed it).  By the way, Crackerfarm has dozens of similar (and similarly awesome) videos of the Bros. Avett singing stripped down versions of their catalogue - check them all out!

And here's an intimate performance from a stage in a high school in Manhattan - being at a show where they bust out a song like this is just a transcendental experience:

"if I had money, would it all look good

and if I had a job now, like a good man should

if I came to you tomorrow, and said let's run away

Would you roll like the wind does, baby would you stay?"

11-29-11 - "Hope You Know" ~ Megafaun

So apparently these dudes used to play music with Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver).  So that basically makes them awesome.  Wikipedia classifies Megafaun as "psych-folk", which only adds to the potential for awesomeness.  Can I build them up any more before you listen to the track?


Hyperbole aside, this is just a chill track with simple piano over a restrained drum and bass foundation, washed over by a gently blended harmonic wave.

"close your eyes
and kiss goodbye..."

11-24-11 - "Wagon Wheel" ~ Old Crow Medicine Show

Holiday Quickie.  Here's a track that was cobbled together from the strains of a chorus composed by Bob Dylan.  Nostalgic and regretful, but with a hopeful attitude toward the future, the protagonist seeks redemption and rebirth as his journey to his hometown acts as a metaphor for his turning from evil, self-sabotaging ways and returning to his roots...

"North country winters keep a'gettin me

lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave

but I ain't goin' back to livin' that old life no more..."

"...and if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free..."

7-16-11 - "Pretty Girl From Annapolis" ~ The Avett Brothers

So we have a good buddy back in town this weekend, and hung out on the deck all evening.  Eventually the ol' six string was busted out, and we went through everything from The Head And The Heart to Brand New to some classic Avett Brothers.  I haven't posted TAB in a while, and this one was just sweet to sing with some good friends, so here you go.


It's a pretty simple song, about a pretty girl, from a place near Baltimore.  Sometimes love hits you fast and hard, and sometimes it's gone just as quickly.  Sometimes a relationship doesn't work out, sometimes it's a mistake, and sometimes you have to move on and learn from it, but that doesn't mean you can't look back fondly upon the good times you had...


"Pretty Girl From Annapolis" (grooveshark)


"And if I don't make it to the spring
May you catch the joy that a melody brings
From my dear brother's ragged six string...

...singin' the songs we're embarrassed to sing
may you never be embarrassed to sing..."

5-27-11 - "Never Been Alive" ~ The Avett Brothers

How can I choose just one?  Just saw The Avett Brothers perform live for the tenth time, and just like the previous nine times, they brought it from start to finish, and did not disappoint.  Well, to be honest, they did disappoint, but only in that they didn't play their entire catalogue... to be fair, they have to be in Columbus for another show Saturday night so we'll have to forgive them that one.


If you haven't guessed, TAB are pretty much my favorite band.  I'm trying to show restraint and not overhype them on the blog (I went all of April and most of May without using them) but after a show like tonight, I can't help it.


I'm going with a song that hasn't made an album yet, but surely will be on their next release... the first time I heard it was last year's Pittsburgh show, and it blew me away.  I'm glad to have heard it once more this year; Seth is my favorite (by a nose), and this one's lyrics are just swell.  Can't wait for the album version, but the live vid should give you a feel for the energy the boys bring every time they take the stage:

"Money won't do the trick,
but it will help
to open the doors we need it to
to help someone else..."

4-9-11 - "Luisa's Bones" ~ Crooked Fingers

This one's got some cool, kind of haunting harmonies, and an intriguing story in the lyrics.  Another one that I heard on Chuck (see? cross-promotion works!)  So yea, I like this song.  It seems to be about redemption, finding rest and peace, or something along those lines...

"You take the road, I'll take the river;
you bring the fire, I'll bring the jewels;
and in the evening underneath the roaring sky
we will meet and wait and pray for the monsoon..."

3-31-11 - "Laundry Room" ~ The Avett Brothers

This song epitomizes everything that is great about The Avett Brothers, and this particular live version even more so.  You get a feel for their softer side at the beginning, and it builds into a foot-stompin' ruckus by the end.  Scott throws in a witty aside between lines ("...disregard your father's word"..."...what does he know?"), and you get the mid-song instrument change after Scott breaks a string on his banjo.  They have a guy whose sole purpose during shows is to re-string guitars and banjos after they fail to withstand the frenetic strumming of the brothers.  The unbridled passion is evident in every show, in every song.


This one seems to be about young love...

3-14-11 - "About Love" ~ Timothy Seth Avett as "Darling"

Seth Avett is my favorite member of the Avett Brothers.  Well, except for Scott, who's pretty awesome, but no, Seth really is my favorite... barely.  I don't know what it is exactly, but something about his lyrics and his stage presence and even his off-stage presence just clicks with me... probably the vibe of slightly shy, slightly socially awkward... the brothers are great at foot-stomping romps, but both are also skilled at mellow, introspective tunes, and Seth's writing in particular resonates for me.


Darling is a side project of Seth's, where for his first two albums, he basically sat in his kitchen with a 4-track cassette recorder and did everything himself.  This recording method made for a very raw, imperfect sound, but for me that just serves to accentuate the lyrics which delve into the frailty of the human condition.  This particular track, however, is from his third album, which is a lot more polished.


The sharp and cynical lyrics evoke a recent breakup, where the wounds are still open, and the singer is convinced that love is a farce.  Yet, the last verse still rings with a glimmer of hope...


(live performance on youtube:)

(gotta respect a man that can sing and play guitar whilst walking backwards, eh?  additional symbolism...?)


(album version on grooveshark)


"I'm laughing so hard my sides start to split
well I cannot be told and I will not admit
that no one else thinks it's a joke...
well, at least I'm right about love..."

2-13-11 - "Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise" ~ The Avett Brothers

In light of one of my favorite bands making their Grammy debut tonight, I can't resist posting this song.  When I first heard of The Avett Brothers, in 2008, they were doing 200+ shows a year, in bars and small venues across the country, busting their tails and leaving everything they had on the stage every night.  They'd already been at it since 2000, and were on the cusp of breaking through with their latest album, Emotionalism, which combined their punk/folk madness with just enough pop to draw in a new demographic of listeners.  I saw them at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh in June of 2008, and fell in love within the first minute of their electrifying performance (which ended nearly two hours later with thunderstorms chasing the crowd away.)  By late 2009, with the release of "I and Love and You", produced by Rick Rubin, TAB was in the process of exploding into the consciousness of legions of new people.  And now, just over a year later, they're sharing a stage with some of the biggest names in the history of music, and some of the biggest stars of today.  It couldn't have happened to a better group of guys.


The song they performed tonight is one of my favorites of all time.  It's very simple, yet very poignant, and if you look up the lyrics on songmeanings.net, you can see in the comments that different people draw different meanings from it.  My take is that the author is struggling with the constraints of society, with years of going along with the crowd, not living according to what he knows to be true.  He's had big dreams, but been scared to take the leap and chase them.  He's decided not to live life as a mindless drone, just going with the flow, doing as he's told... but hey, give it a listen and come to your own conclusions.

"There's a darkness upon you that's flooded in light,
in the fine print they tell you what's wrong and what's right;
and it flies by day and it flies by night,
and I'm frightened by those who don't see it...
...decide what to be and go be it..."

1-2-11 - "When I Drink" ~ The Avett Brothers

A lot deeper than you might guess based on the title.  Introspective, all about the consequences of our actions.  Simple, yet poignant - one aspect of The Avett Brothers which makes them one of the great bands of our time.


"When I Drink" ~ The Avett Brothers (don't worry about the video; just pull up the lyrics here)



"But when I drink,
I spend the next morning in a haze...
but we only get so many days -
now I have one less..."


Don't waste the time you have on this earth - make every day count.