Wanted to let you all know about this month’s Feel Bad For You (FBFY) Mixtape is themed for the acoustic types.  So clearly I am all over this.  I have been contributing for a while now with a bunch of other bloggers, music lovers and all around alt-country types.  This month my submission is a live acoustic version of “Iso-residue” done solo by Will Johnson of Centro-matic and it is awesome.   The stream is embedded below and below even that is what was submitted and by whom.  Our good friend Rockstar Aimz over at the My Aimz is True blog is our illustrious leader and who is corralling us each month – visit her.

So then , 17 acoustic tracks for your Sunday listening, enjoy!

1. Title: Stagolee
Artist: Beck
Album (year): Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt (2001)
Submitted By: noteethleroy
Comments: I wish Beck would do more simple stuff, he’s damn good at it.

2. Title: Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning
Artist: Cowboy Junkies
Album (year): Acoustic Junk (2009)
Submitted By: erschen

3. Title: American Tune
Artist: Darrell Scott (Paul Simon)
Album (year): Modern Hymns (2008)
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: One of my favorite Paul Simon songs, covered by one of my favorite singer-songwriters. A song that never fails to touch my soul.

4. Title: Black Mother Pray
Artist: Tarrus Riley
Album (year): Mecoustic (2012)
Submitted By: tincanman2010
Comments: No-end-to-his-talent young singer’s latest dares you to take a spiritual inventory. More here: http://bit.ly/HOU94Z

5. Title: The Foothills
Artist: Sara Watkins (written by Watkins and Blake Mills)
Album (year): Sun Midnight Sun (2012)
Submitted By: Mando Lines
Comments: Big acoustic instrumental tune, sounds like a movie theme. One of two instrumentals on Watkins’ great new record, which contains a duet with Fiona Apple as well as guest vocals by Jackson Browne and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes).

6. Title: East Nashville Skyline
Artist: Todd Snider
Album (year): What The Folk – Belcourt Theater – Nashville TN (2005)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: This version of ENS is much different than the one Snider included on his Peace, Love & Anarchy release of demos and rarities or that he now performs in his shows. And frankly, I like it better. I was really fortunate to be in the audience the night of this show to hear it. Todd’s show that night capped a great triple-header. Tommy Womack opened and was then followed by Hayes Carll. Todd then took center stage as the headliner and was accompanied by Womack and Jeff Austin of the Yonder Mountain String Band.

7. Title: Stuck on the Inside
Artist: DeepSeaGreen
Album (year): Acoustic Sessions (2011)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: DeepSeaGreen are a garage-rock band from London formed in late 2008. The four piece is made up of brothers Jon and Daniel Jefford (on guitar and drums respectively), Trent Halliday (vocals, guitar) and Marco Menestrina (bass).

8. Title: Loveless Park
Artist: Jason and Alison
Album (year): Woodshed (1995)
Submitted By: Ryan (Verbow @ altcountrytab.ca)
Comments: Before forming Verbow, Jason Narducy and Alison Chesley played together as an acoustic duo and put out this album. This is one of my favorite songs – simple, beautiful melody that betrays somewhat downer lyrics. Great song.

9. Title: We Can’t Make it Here
Artist: James McMurtry
Album (year): unreleased (2004)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: I yanked this acoustic version off of McMurtry’s web site a while ago. Very few bands and artists write topical or political songs, and even fewer do it well. McMurtry excels at it, and when all is said and done, this song may be the song that best represents the 2000’s.

10. Title: Iso-Residue (acoustic)
Artist: Will Johnson (Centro-matic)
Album (year): Original on Candidate Waltz (2011)
Submitted By: Slowcoustic
Comments: I always was a big fan of Will Johnson and here he shows he can also take an more upbeat Centro-matic tune and give it the solo Will Johnson acoustic touch. This guy can rarely do wrong acoustically in my books.

11. Title: Anastasia
Artist: Loomer
Album (year): BBC Live Session Track from 2005 (from the Songs of the Wild West Island album 2006)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Fell in love with this track when I first heard it and it remains a favourite, it’s a different tempo and mood (and all the better for it in IMHO) than the album version.
Not sure if the band are still together or recording a quick Google revealed little accept a parked website but you can listen to Anastasia and other tracks from the album here http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/LOOMER and download at eMusic. http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/loomer/songs-of-the-wild-west-island/11255770/

12. Title: Question
Artist: The Old 97’s
Album (year): Hit By A Train: The Best Of Old 97′s (2006)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: This one goes out to Laura. I surprised her with ‘the question’ over 22 years ago.

13. Title: Coffee Blues (Live)
Artist: Mississippi John Hurt
Album (year): Salty Dog (orig. 1963, comp. album 2009)
Submitted By: Gorrck
Comments: Acoustic, but with a microphone. Does that still count? I traded the Bluesmobile for a microphone.

14. Title: Broken Man
Artist: Lauderdale
Album (year): Moving On (B Sides/unreleased) (2011)
Submitted By: Corey Flegel – This Is American Music

15. Title: Candy Cane Crawl
Artist: Greg Dulli
Album (year): non-album, live track from 2010 acoustic tour
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: Submitting this track on Greg fucking Dulli’s 46th birthday. It’s one of my favorite songs by my favorite artist, containing nearly all the elements that make me love him – the cinematic sweep, the perfectly imperfect vocals, and the knife that cuts my soul right in two and lets all the dirt and light and blood and secret beauty pour right out. He’s accompanied by Dave Roesser on guitar and backing vocals, and Rick Nelson on cello.

16. Title: Goodbye California
Artist: Jolie Holland
Album (year): Escondida (2004)
Submitted By: Brad Kelley
Comments: Jolie Holland was in the Be Good Tanyas, but I only recently discovered her. Love her voice and inflections.

17. Title: Elk River Blues
Artist: Ernie Carpenter
Album (year): Tales of Elk River Country (1986)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: The Elk River runs through central WV and was dammed off in 1958 to form Sutton Lake. Ernie Carpenter wrote this tune while sitting on the ridge looking down at Sutton Lake as it covered what used to be his family’s old homeplace. Such powerful emotions from just one fiddle.

~~~

You can find the series over at the website courtesy of A Truer Sound by one simply click HERE.

~Smansmith

There just might be a bit of West Texas in all of us, it is just a lot more front and center with Caleb Coy.

Caleb Coy announced a new Kickstarter campaign to fund his next album just yesterday.  If you are interested in great lo-fi (or maybe not so ‘lo-fi’ for the upcoming album) folk country, then this is your chance to get in on the ground floor.  Its an ambitious endeavor to get recording time, vinyl pressings and essentially a full package album (with PR) made these days and in exchange of being part of the process, you can make it actually happen!  I guess that is the idea behind it, you are donating to get the rewards of great music…its pretty simply really.  Visit the campaign HERE.  Watch the video below.

Take a listen to one of my favourites from his Yer Bird Records released album “Wild Desert Rose”, the track “Rambler’s Lament”.

~Smansmith

Just thinking about this album today as they are announcing the long list for the Polaris Prize today (keep an eye out here).  If you are unaware, the 2011 Polaris Prize is the ‘best’ Canadian album to be released between June 2010 and May 2011 as chosen by music editors, sites, critics in Canada.  Slowcoustic is considered one of those Canadian music types and I voted for my favourite albums and this band may have been among the list….I ain’t gonna tell.

One Hundred Dollars new album “Songs of Man” is a strong contender for reaching at least the long list of the Polaris, but unfortunately I don’t see a more country/roots type band winning for some reason.  All I can say is that I hope that the whole process isn’t just an exercise in voting Arcade Fire for the top spot (despite it being a good album as well).  Lets all hope we see $100 represented today on the announcement for the competition to Canada’s ‘best’ album of the 2010/2011 season.  That is all I am going to say on this subject (at this time).  ;-)

One Hundred Dollars’ ‘Songs of Man’: While you can expect a bit of a country experience from One Hundred Dollars, you also get a bit of retro rock, folky moments all mixed together into a rambling rootsy album.  This may sound wishy washy and almost a bit thrown together, but it isn’t – it feels quite well assembled in all reality.  If a slightly tamer Janis Joplin decided to become an outlaw country act, then One Hundred Dollars should be on your listening “long list”.

Enjoy Black Gold as your song of the day:

“Black Gold” from One Hundred Dollars album “Songs Of Man”

Find more/purchase: Website, Outside Music, Facebook and Zunior (purchase).

~Smansmith

Don’t know much about Nebraska – drove through it once and spent the night at a small low rent chain motel on the outskirts of Lincoln.  Saw lots of corn fields (from the side of the road), a truck with a personalized license plate with “Hunters” on it and endless 2 door coupes with “support our troops” magnets.  Not to say that it was the essence of “Midwestern”, that is just the impression it gives off.  As mentioned we did stay for a bit in Lincoln, and it was a sweet little town.  I quite liked it and always joke with my wife that we would move there because it seemed like an honest but growing town, plus we got a good cup of coffee the morning we left.  I don’t know where I was going with this, oh yeah, moving to Nebraska…

Jon Crocker has some nice folk tunes – “Moved to Nebraska” is from his new album “Farewell, America!” and I think I kinda like it.  You gotta like a guy who isn’t afraid of the banjo AND mandolin.

Jon Crocker

Song of the Day:

“Moved to Nebraska” (mp3)

Bonus #1:

“Alabama Hills” (mp3) – a bit more uptempo for you diehard SLOWcoustic folks…
from “Farewell, America!”
(Greydawn Records)

More On This Album

~~
Bonus #2:
Jon Crocker
“I Just Can’t Say No” (mp3)
from “The Dust Will Settle”
(Bluetint Records)

More On This Album

~~

If you happen to enjoy Mr. Crocker – visit him on his Website and even MySpace.

So I am not one to shy away from my “roots” (no pun intended).  So it is time to represent with some old school tunes (that aren’t actually that old) – but the tracks are from one of my “hometown” bands, the Wailin’ Jennys.

I am a previous resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (I’m a “pegger”) and the Jennys are definitely one of the best exports that the city has had (take that Burton Cummings).  I always think that I even know them due to this.  Despite never officially meeting Annabelle Chvostek, Nicky Mehta, and Ruth Moody, I have seen them from a distance at best.  Actually, I am a friend of a friend of one of the members (The Moody sisters are friends with my sister/brother in law – so how many times removed is this????).  Regardless, the ladies not being hard on the eyes are also not so hard on the ears.  This can be heard starting from their debut breakout album “40 Days”, they have followed up with the great “Firecracker” and just yesterday a nice little live recording “Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House”.

The tracks included below are a Celtic laden lament (Long Time Traveller) to an almost Egyptian accented Southern barn burner (Deeper Well) – if you are a roots folk fan, you can not go wrong with TWJ.

~~

The Wailin’ Jennys
“Deeper Well” (mp3)
from “Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House”
(Outside Music)

More On This Album

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The Wailin’ Jennys
“Long Time Traveller” (mp3)
from “Firecracker”
(Jericho Beach Music)

More On This Album

I think the music speaks for itself, so enjoy your Wednesday with some of my root’s roots.  See what I did there?

Visit The Wailin’ Jennys on their great Website and on MySpace.
Pick up a copy of the albums (or a shirt??) directly HERE.

~Smansmith

p.s.  You might want to check out my other home @ You Crazy Dreamers for a feature on The Wailin’ Jennys member Annabelle Chvostek.