By now, you may have seen Billy Joel’s new song, Christmas In Fallujah, on the internets. There’s been a lot of commenting on blogs both pro and con. Much is being made of the fact that he enlisted a young singer, Cass Dillon, to do the song since Cass is the same age as a typical soldier serving in Iraq.
I only mention this because about a year and a half ago Naomi reviewed a uniquely poignant and sometimes bitterly ironic protest CD by Jefferson Pepper titled, coincidently or not, Christmas In Fallujah.
At the time, Slacker Country didn’t know that the song had been inspired by Jefferson Pepper’s neighbor, Army Medic David Maples.
After Billy Joel released his song/video, David’s mother Lisa put together a video of the original Christmas In Fallujah and posted it on YouTube.
I’m certainly not arguing that Billy Joel stole Jefferson Pepper’s idea here. I don’t know. Maybe he thought up the title and wrote a song about being stuck in Iraq for the holidays from a soldier’s perspective entirely on his own. I’m only posting this so the original song isn’t forgotten in all the fuss and furor…
The cover actually says Robert Plant/Alison Krauss. I’m thinkin’ Alison should have gotten top billing here. It’s really her album. I am still pleased with my purchase, but I’d read some promo-hype and was expecting more. I just feel slightly duped somehow.
Knowing that Raising Sand had “Nothin’” by the late, great Townes, the most perfect lyricist ever, and a cover of Rowland Salley’s “Killing the Blues” (which you’ve heard John Prine sing) was all it took to sell me anyway. Alison and
Robert do a very sweet, slowed-down version and are quite properly ’swinging the world by the tail’ on this one. Read the rest of this entry »
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What can I say- that Tequila Brad sure knows how to throw a damn party. Saturday night at Dan’s Silverleaf was a total liquor fueled, pull-out-all-the-stops, crank it up and rock this place throw down. With cake. Todd Mankin and his band started things off. We got there in the middle of his set and he was already in full rockin’ mode. He’s got a great voice, some good songs and a kickin’ band behind him. He closed his set with Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold. Austin’s Band of Heathens were up next. I’ve heard their fine debut CD, Live At Momo’s- and it’s good, but I was still surprised by the full force of their set. Read the rest of this entry »
He took charge of the stage and his band, the 400 Unit, and put on quite a show from the very beginning. By the second song, I had forgotten that he had ever consorted with any Truckers at all. Starting out his performance with “Down in a Hole” (which I always thought was called “Trouble” before I bought the album) was brilliant and surprising. Then he jumped right into “Try”. (”You can’t make a woman sleep alone, but you try don’t you? You can’t make her stay her ass at home.”) Read the rest of this entry »
You might if you go to certain shows in the Dallas area or you visit certain discussion boards (The Drams, The DriveBy Truckers, for example).
Well, even if you don’t, you just might want to check out Brad’s birthday party this weekend (Saturday, November 17, 9:00) at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, Texas.
See, Brad had this great idea. What if he got three of his favorite bands and had them all play at the same venue for him as a birthday present for himself??? He figures there is not a lot of overlap between the fan bases for these three groups and he might be doing some people some favors by introducing them to more good music. So, these Texas bands, not necessarily in this order are: The Drams out of Denton, Band of Heathens out of Austin, and Todd Mankin out of Fort Worth.
David Childers and the Modern Don Juans are hanging it up, at least in their current incarnation. In September, Childers sent out the following email to his followers: Read the rest of this entry »
Steve Earle is one of the most entertaining wordsmiths still slinging his guitar around these days. He got it honestly, learning from the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. A little younger than Guy, seems Steve is keeping up with the times on Washington Square Serenade.
All the latest music magazines are talking about Steve Earle and Washington Square Serenade this month. And rightly so. This album is surprisingly good and I had trouble being surprised, having read reviews before I caught a good listen. I was a devotee of Steve from back in the day. (I’ve torn my house up this weekend looking for that lost copy of El Corazon. I know it’s around here somewhere.) Read the rest of this entry »
The little kids almost stole the show from The Gourds Thursday night at Central Market in Ft Worth. They hit the dance floor early, by the first verse of the opening song. Two little girls at first, cute as all hell, waltzing and twirling to “Dying Of The Pines.” They were soon followed by the all the rest of the kids there and by the end of the second song, the highly danceable “My Name Is Jorge,” it looked a little like first grade free form dance class out there, only with better music.
My friend who turned me onto the place once described it as “the only bar in town with a playland.” So when the Gourds faithful showed up, they brought the kids. And the kids seemed to love it.
Of course at a show like this, it’s easy to forget you’re at a grocery store, not a bar. Even with a half dozen toddlers hamming it up.
“This is a really big deal for us” she confided, midway through their set on the first day of this year’s Folks Festival. “We’ve never been the closing act at a music festival.”
This was after we had abandoned our tarp and moved to the front, to get away from the talking mommies in the back. It was a good move. In front, the crowd wasn’t talking. In fact, between songs, and after the loud applause died down, mostly what we could hear were the crickets chirping, such was the level of the concentration by the crowd with respect to what was happening on stage. Read the rest of this entry »
The cover actually says Robert Plant/Alison Krauss. I’m thinkin’ 
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