Interesting premier in this show is the New Multitudes album, which marks this year as a 100 years from when Woody Guthrie was born. It’s another project where the Guthrie’s estate hands out his old unseen lyrics to modern day artists to write new tunes to the old words. First project like that was back in 1998 when Jeff Tweedy and Billy Bragg joined forces on Mermaid Avenue. It’s interesting that the Guthrie’s estate approached old Tweedy’s friend from the Uncle Tupelo days, Jay Farrar. He then also approached Will Johnson from Centro-matic, Yim Yames from My Morning Jacket and Anders Parker from Varnalinen to help him out in the completion. The whole thing turned out very well, Farrar’s singing wasn’t this good in ages and tunes fit the lyrics like a glove. Starting with this show, we will begin with a new segment, Live in Cleveland, which will feature live recordings from various bands on their Cleveland shows. We start with a new song for the Cleveland roots rock band Jack Fords, the band which also premiers at the Little Lighthouse today. Whitehorse is a duet from Canada that consists of singer-songwriters Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland and we feature them for the first time at todays show. Their self titled album is full of well crafted songs. Today we have John Wesley Coleman again, this time with a new solo album Last Donkey Show. Chrome Cranks are back with the new album Ain’t No Likes In Blood. And sadly, today’s show is dedicated to Davy Jones, one of the Monkees, who passed away on February 29 this year after a sudden hear attack.
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Vanish in Our Sleep;
The Monkees – Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow);
The Monkees – Star Collector;
Whitehorse – Broken;
Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson and Andreas Parker – V.D. City;
Billy Bragg and Wilco – California Stars;
Green On Red – This I know;
Jack Fords – Covers Blown;
Jack Fords – Turn It Up Louder;
Smrts – Balga Promenade;
Endless Boogie – Pack Your Bags;
John Wesley Coleman – Misery Again;
Gibson Bros – Lone Wild Bird;
The Chrome Cranks – Way-Out Lover;
The Chrome Cranks – Living Dead.
First 30 minutes of today’s show is very loud and the the other half of the show we mellow down easy with some folksy type of rock… at least if you consider young savage Westerberg strumming his acoustic guitar mellow. We do. So, yes that second block begins with his “protest” song Bad Worker that’s one of the “extras” on the newly re-re-released expanded versions of first four Replacement records. We check them out pretty carefully in today’s episode. The we had also the new Billy Bragg’s double CD which he calls Mr Love and Justice. Steve Wynn recoded an album in Ljubljana, so we check that out as well. In the first half, we have the new band for the former Dead Moon members Fred and Tony. They call it Pierced Arrows. We also check out new records for Wedding Present and The Ettes. Also, I got a chance to shake hands with legendary Tommy Ramone who played a show with his bluegrass duet Uncle Monk in Cleveland. So, the show ends with one of the songs that I recorded on my voice recorder that night. So, yeah – a lot of new stuff today. Dig in.