Country Songs: A Tribute to Dad

I thought it would be nice to have a post on Father’s Day that focused on songs paying tribute to fathers. What I found when I began to compile such a list was: a) there aren’t that many songs that have to do with fathers; b) many of the ones I did find were depressing or sort of inappropriate. Eric Clapton sings about wishing his father was still around to guide him in My Father’s Eyes, Harry Chapin laments not spending more time with his kids in Cats in the Cradle, and Mary J. Blige sings about needing to find a significant other who also fills the void from her own absentee father. Happy Father’s Day! The only one that I could think of or find in my library that is really sweet is Paul Simon’s Father and Daughter, but one song a good playlist does not make.

I decided to take things in a different direction and pay tribute to my own dad. He is kind of a Suburban Music Dad (now Gramps) himself, but strangely, despite being born on the south side of Chicago and raised in the western suburbs, his tendency leans heavily toward country music. This gene apparently hits every other generation as neither of my sister or I have that tendency; however, it has struck my oldest daughter. Therefore, while I should be out shopping for a gift for Dad before we head to my parents’ house later this afternoon, I am making an attempt at compiling a good list of country songs that I like. Since that isn’t normally my preferred genre, the songs would probably be considered kind of wimpy by true hardcore country fans- I call it Country Lite. I can appreciate a good twang, though, so here is my best effort. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

· The Long Black Veil (Johnny Cash)
· Summertime (Kenny Chesney)
· Love Don’t Live Here (Lady Antebellum)
· Portland, Oregon (Loretta Lynn)- confession: Jack Black is also on this one, weird combo
· That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas) (Lyle Lovett)
· Here Comes Goodbye (Rascal Flatts)
· Please Read the Letter (Allison Krause and Robert Plant)- note: also a weird combo, but this is a really good album (Raising Sand- won a Grammy, I think)
· Killin’ Kind (Shelby Lynne)
· It Happens (Sugarland)
· Chicken Fried (Zac Brown Band)

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Last Saturday, not having an idea what I wanted to listen to next, I perused the top 10 albums on iTunes. I noticed that #8 was someone I had never heard of, Grace Potter & the Nocturals. Intrigued and a little bothered (because I should at least recognize everyone in the top 10), I read a couple of the reviews and took the plunge. This all coincided nicely with my first “long” run for my marathon training. My plan is to listen to new music each week for my long runs, which will distract me to the point that I hardly even notice I’m running. I have to admit that I did pay more attention to the music itself than I normally do on a first listen when I’m usually reading the paper on the train or working in the kitchen. The downside is that when I’ve listened to the album since then, I can literally picture where I was on my run when I first heard each song. No!!!! I’ve taken perfectly good music and now associate it with exercise- it’s had the wrong effect!

Anyway, on to Grace Potter and the Nocturals. As I mentioned, I have never heard of them and know nothing about them, but one of the reviews I read quickly described the sound as Janis Joplin meets Norah Jones. What??? I don’t think it’s necessary to take the opposite ends of the female vocal spectrum to describe something in the middle. I would say she sounds like an energized Norah Jones, although I guess the Janis Joplin comes from her ability to hold a note indefinitely. I would compare her most closely to Joss Stone, although she’s a notch calmer. Some of her songs have a hint of country (not good enough at country to tell you who she sounds like) and many have a kind of bluesy feel. She ranges from quite loud to very mellow, a nice mix. I keep saying “she” because I do not hear any vocals from the Nocturals (must investigate).

Again, without knowing anything about her, I would say she’s a single gal who is experiencing (and signing about) all kinds of single gal issues: being excited by new love, not answering the phone when her ex calls, not having enough money, the usual stuff, but the lyrics are a bit unexpected in places, which keeps things interesting, and she’s obviously more mature than a Taylor Swift. I am really enjoying this album. It’s a good mix of upbeat and soulful, and seriously it’s only $7.99 and has 14 songs- you can hardly find a better deal than that! Apparently the group was on Good Morning America this morning, so I can hardly get credit for discovering something new, I guess.

Now that I’ve visited the offical Grace Potter & the Nocturnals website, I’ve learned that Grace herself is 26, is from Vermont, and The Nocturals comprise the band: three hippie-looking dudes and one other girl. When I pay attention, I can hear them backing up on vocals, but it’s subtle- nice. I’m including what seems to be the only “real” video below, although I am hesitant because it gets a little screamy toward the end, which isn’t representative of all their songs whatsoever. Here are my recommendations from the album (although I am thoroughly enjoying the whole thing). I probably should have mentioned earlier that the album is self titled.

· Paris (also the most popular song on iTunes from the album)
· Tiny Light (video below)
· Colors (really pretty song)
· Fooling Myself (second most popular song, also the quietest song)

R&B Favorites

Before I was a suburban music mom, I was a suburban music girl and teenager, comfortably protected in relatively homogenous surroundings, happily listening to Bruce Springsteen day and night. That changed when I was shipped off to the large public state university, which contained both people of other religions and (gasp) minorities. At some point early during my freshman year, I was brushing my teeth in the large communal bathroom on my dorm floor and at the same time there was an unseen girl singing in the shower (yes, singing loudly in the shower!), belting out Anita Baker’s Sweet Love. She was singing with such power and emotion that I literally got chills. I am certain no one at my Catholic high school could sing like that! Thus began a love of R&B music and a slight deviation from all Bruce all the time.

Over the years since, I have grown to love Mary J. Blige and John Legend in particular, but there is something about all R&B music that is comforting to me. I recently picked up a free song card at Starbucks and it happened to be a song by Leela James. The song is pretty good but got me thinking in general about some of my favorite R&B songs. I compiled a playlist and have been listening to it for the past couple days, tweaking it as needed.

This morning my teenage daughters and I left for a little road trip to visit some prospective colleges and had to leave at the ungodly hour of 4:00 a.m. Being the good teenagers that they are, they promptly got bored of entertaining their driver and fell asleep, at which point I turned on my new playlist (the girls would never have tolerated that while conscious) and let my inner Anita Baker come out. It was while singing along that I nearly dropped my favorite Alicia Keys song because I discovered that it’s sung at a pitch that is unmanageable for most humans, but I kept it in because Alicia seems to manage it fine and likely didn’t intend for it to be sung by suburban moms. While we might all have a little R&B in us, mine will probably be limited to the car- turns out I sing better in my mind than in real life.

As I write this, my student driver is behind the wheel and we are heading from Indiana to Kentucky, both relatively far from R&B, I believe. Anyway, the girls are awake and we actually have a country station on, which the car radio probably feels more comfortable with in this area. Here is my list (*Mary J. and John Legend songs are simply representing all songs by those artists):

· Family Affair (Sly & The Family Stone)
· Let’s Stay Together (Al Green)
· Sweet Love (Anita Baker)
· Better Things (Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings)
· Just Fine (Mary J. Blige)
· Mercy Mercy Me (Marvin Gaye)
· She Don’t Have to Know (John Legend)
· If I Ain’t Got U (Alicia Keys)
· Killing Me Softly With His Song (The Fugees)
· A Change is Gonna Come (Leela James)

Groovy playlist!

Misc. Singles III

Here are some new singles (including one from Jack Johnson, as you can see), which were obviously chosen fairly randomly- it’s all about what I’m interested in and from there I recommend what I think everyone should listen to. Read on…

· OMG (Usher) – I’ve liked Usher in the past and this song has been #1 on iTunes recently. It is pretty catchy and you’ll find yourself singing to yourself. I call artists like Usher hip hop lite, not too hardcore.

· Rill Rill (Sleigh Bells) – I had never heard of Sleigh Bells, but I read two reviews of their album in two days earlier this week. They’re a pretty new male/female due from New York and have a cool, kind of quirky sound. The actual vocals belong to a female with a really pretty voice, and the lyrics are clever and unexpected. I’ve read that this song is actually their least “alternative”, but I like it and might try the whole thing.

· You and Your Heart (Jack Johnson) – If you are a Jack Johnson fan, you are really never going to be disappointed with a new song because one of his greatest strengths is his predictable mellowness. He is a Hawaiian surfer dude, not a rocker, so he has perfect music to relax to and you don’t have to work very hard to like his songs. The downside is that you’re never really going to be surprised by what you get. That being said, this song is actually a bit livelier than his usual, meaning there is some electric guitar action and he sings a decibel or so louder than usual.

· Southern Pacifica (Josh Ritter) – I have seen this name around and was elated when I saw that the song was being offered free at Starbucks since those songs are often by artists I’ve never heard of. What luck that it was one I’ve wanted to try anyway! He has a cool mellow song but with a bit more of an edge to it than a Jack Johnson, for instance. I’d definitely try other songs by him, although I have to stop thinking that he used to be on Three’s Company.

· Not Afraid (Eminem) – One thing you can say about rappers is that they should never need therapy because absolutely every thought and emotion comes straight out their mouths- and beware of the “explicit” versions (I have no idea how they make a song like this “clean”). This song is no exception, but one thing about Eminem is that he has really interesting lyrics if you’re not offended by them. This song is basically about Em getting his life together, cleaning up and coming back to his fans after a hiatus. It has a good message but requires some concentration to sort through it (I’m always distracted by the complexity of his rhymes!). I tend to like Eminen because I think he’s actually really talented, but he’s never for the faint of heart.

· You’ve Got a Friend (James Taylor and Carole King) – due to absolutely no forethought about the sequence of my playlist, this song followed Eminem. James’ voice always feels like being wrapped in a really comfy blanket, especially after being emotionally exhausted by the previous song. This album is from a 2007 live show he and Carole King did at the same theatre where they first performed in 1970, the Troubadour in West Holleywood, California. This album contains some of his songs and some of hers. They sound great together, just as they always did, so you can’t really go wrong if you like either of them. One thing that’s always fun about live albums is the bits of chatter that’s included, which this has.

· My First Kiss (3Oh!3 with Ke$ha) – I’ve been reading about this 3Oh!3 guy (I think he chose to do the duet with Ke$ha because he was drawn to the special characters in her name- kindred spirits) and discovered that his “name” refers to his area code (303 in case you are having trouble interpreting it) as he’s from one of my favorite places: Boulder! I don’t really picture Boulder as producing sounds like this, but it’s pretty lively and will be a temporary chart topper but doubtful on a long-term presence. Good to dance to (if I was about 20 years younger).

· Rock That Body (Black Eyed Peas) – I think the Black Eyed Peas are just systematically going through every song on this album and when one starts to dry up they release another, so this is the latest, although none are ever going to beat I Gotta Feeling. Not crazy about what sounds like The Chipmunks singing on this song, but all Black Eyed Peas songs are clever, memorable and different- they can’t be accused of doing the same song over and over.

Recommendations? None that I really disliked from this group, but the ones I particularly liked are:

· OMG (Usher)
· Rill Rill (Sleigh Bells)
· Southern Pacifica (Josh Ritter)

Here is the song Rill Rill, although there’s no video. At least you’ll hear the song.