Here’s a nice clip of Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians playing the title track from his early 90’s return to form, Perspex Island. The record is, I think, out of print. It’s a shame, because it contains one of his prettiest songs, ‘She Doesn’t Exist Anymore’.

Here’s a video of Tangleweed playing the old Fats Waller classic ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ live at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Thanks to the good folks at the Old Town School, and to Billy Oh for putting the video together.

This clip comes from a film of a 1971 benefit concert for John Sinclair. While Phil is in fine form here, he was beginning the slow descent that would end with him taking his own life in 1976. Ochs is playing an updated version of his song ‘Here’s to the State of Mississippi’, adapting it to describe excesses of the executive branch that seem strangely familiar.

Here’s a clip of the Country Boys/ Kentucky Colnels playing with Andy Griffith on his eponymous show. It’s remarkable how young they are. They would wind up doing great things with other groups: Clarence would, of course, go on to join the Byrds, Roland would play with Bill Monroe, and Earl Scruggs, Billy Ray Lathum would replace Doug Dillard in the Dillards. It’s great to see them all together here, playing the old standard ‘Whoa Mule’:

The Kentucky Colnels record Appalachian Swing is one of th finest bluegrass records ever recorded, as fresh and vital today as it was when it was recorded forty years ago.

This song had been a jazz standard since the music was in its infancy, so by the time this short was filmed in 1933, any self-respecting jazz musician could really cook on it. I believe that this was filmed at a concert in Copenhagen, Denmark. He exhibits remarkable patience in the construction of his solo, resisting the easy temptation to let loose with a interminable volley of notes.

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Americana-UK review by David Cowling
Tangled up in the Bluegrass

This is the kind of music that makes even your kitchen utensils dance, so infectious is its blend of bluegrass, country, jazz and rock, you’ll do well to stop the dish running away with the spoon. Interspersing traditional songs, covers and some very decent originals like ‘Hard Times’ – which has a mandolin solo so delinquent that you’ll want to slap an ASBO on it – they create a party atmosphere and with the songs usually clocking in below three minutes, you don’t get chance to be bored. They take on jazz standards like ‘I’ve Found a New Baby’ and with the fiddle taking the brassy lead they confuse it into submission. There is a maelstrom of plucking, banging, sawing and shouting that give the songs an irresistible momentum, and they leap at you like an overfriendly Labrador. ‘Leaving of ‘Liverpool’ comes as something of a relief, the vocals are melancholic, up front and downright folky and with the guitar as the lead instrument it provides an interesting counterpoint to the frenetic activity that has gone before. An unabashedly old-fashioned record, traditional and proud and with enough energy and skill to convince any doubter.

Santa is Real, the Christmas record my old band the Kennett Brothers put together, is long out-of-print, and, thanks to the efforts of obsessive Wilco completists, prohibitively expensive on the second-hand market. In the spirit of the season, I’m posting an MP3 of one of the tracks, our cover of the Louvin Brothers song ‘A Shutin at Christmas‘.
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Here’s another track from our recent show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. It’s the Tangleweed original ‘Hard Times’, which can be found on our second record, in which the word ‘go’ is rhymed with the word ‘door’. Educational.

Download Hard Times MP3

You can find another track from the show here.