Saturday, December 15, 2007

Stars in My Crown

Stars in My Crown: Jorma Kaukonen: A solo album by one of the founders of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. This acoustic offering has a lovely sound to it. There's classic gospel, evidenced by a good cover of the title song, mixed with reggae (Kaukonen does a credible version of The Rivers of Babylon), mixed with blues, in the form of Come Back, Baby. Kaukonen even does a version of Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around, that, while not quite as powerful as Cash's, still does credit to Kaukonen, Cash, and the song. This is an album that I'm glad I bought in its entirety, not song by song, as every song seems to fit together despite the varying genres.

Wilco: They are coming here in March and I have decent tickets, thanks to Poppy! Yay! I would never have known they were coming here if it hadn't been for her -- that's how good the advertising is in our area; an out-of-state resident had to let me know one of my favorite bands was coming to my town.

Friday Shuffle
  1. Hand Me Down: The Wallflowers from Breach -- Jakob Dylan's song about his dad -- at least that's how it sounds to me.
  2. Like a Star: Corinne Bailey Rae from Corinne Bailey Rae
  3. Prairie Fire: Cris Williamson from Prairie Fire
  4. Sister's Coming Home: Emmylou Harris from Blue Kentucky Girl
  5. Hell Hound on My Trail: Cassandra Wilson from Blue Light Till Dawn
  6. Catching On: Son Volt from Trace
  7. Is There Life After Breakfast: Ray Davies from Other People's Lives
  8. In California: Neko Case from Live From Austin, Texas
  9. Dark as a Dungeon: Johnny Cash from Unearthed
  10. Scythian Empires: Andrew Bird from Armchair Apocrypha

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your kind words, Katya. I am so happy I was invited to produce this project before the album as we know it ceases to exist (maybe that's a ways off yet, we can hope!).
I also noticed the Wallflowers in your Friday shuffle... their drummer, Fred Eltringham, played the percussion on "...Babylon" and on the title cut. I recorded him in my hotel room in Austin while we were on tour together with the Dixie Chicks last year...

http://dixiechicks.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4787759

Blessings to you & yours,
Byron House

Robin said...

Glad you got good seats! The tour has barely been promoted at all, except on the Wilco websites. For good reason, too. The Philly show sold out in four minute today. Ryman in Nashville was about that fast, too. But I got two tickets! Yow! :)

Can't wait to read about your first Wilco concert. They are going to blow you away.

Kristina said...

Yay! So glad to hear that you'll be seeing Wilco :) I got stellar seats for the Lakewood (cleveland area) show!

Kathy said...

Bryon: I really love Stars in My Crown and think some projects should be one entity -- like Green Day's American Idiot -- not just a bunch of downloaded songs. I will miss the album too and hope it's awhile before it goes away.

Robin and Kristina: I'm so thrilled about the Wilco concert too! Thank you so much, Robin, for letting me know about it. Mobile is notorious for its lack of concert promotion -- even for artists who wouldn't sell out without the promotion.

Marshamlow said...

So glad I got the chance to get to know you this year. I hope you have a restful and happy holidays.