Found a new favorite band yesterday at the state fair. Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers out of Nashville. Check out that phenomenal fiddle in this well-known Irish tune ...
Something that's completely different from Hot Tuna--Judy Collins' 1967 album "Wildflowers." Now, everyone's heard of Judy Collins, but if you've never sat and listened to this particular album, you've missed out. Put some decent headphones on and give it a spin. This is her best full album, and I don't think she's ever surpassed it (though other, individual songs do measure up).
It was the first album I got as a kid--I vaguely remember asking my mom to buy it for me. I don't know why I picked this one, either, but my father had been listening to a lot of folk music (Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, etc) at the time. I must have been 8 then, but it has never gotten "old" with me--except for the one "hit song" on it, "Both Sides Now," which now sounds a bit dated. "Both Sides Now" is also, clearly, the only song on the album that, through its arrangement, was made to be a hit, and it suffers as a consequence. But the rest of the album is "eternal" as far as I'm conerned--the small orchestral ensemble arrangements, the Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell covers, the outstanding quality of the recording, the differing styles of each piece (including a medieval Italian piece and a French chanson). For me, the best single piece is "Albatross"--which happened to be written by Judy herself. My 8-year-old self made a good choice!
Something that's completely different from Hot Tuna--Judy Collins' 1967 album "Wildflowers." Now, everyone's heard of Judy Collins, but if you've never sat and listened to this particular album, you've missed out. Put some decent headphones on and give it a spin. This is her best full album, and I don't think she's ever surpassed it (though other, individual songs do measure up).
It was the first album I got as a kid--I vaguely remember asking my mom to buy it for me. I don't know why I picked this one, either, but my father had been listening to a lot of folk music (Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, etc) at the time. I must have been 8 then, but it has never gotten "old" with me--except for the one "hit song" on it, "Both Sides Now," which now sounds a bit dated. "Both Sides Now" is also, clearly, the only song on the album that, through its arrangement, was made to be a hit, and it suffers as a consequence. But the rest of the album is "eternal" as far as I'm conerned--the small orchestral ensemble arrangements, the Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell covers, the outstanding quality of the recording, the differing styles of each piece (including a medieval Italian piece and a French chanson). For me, the best single piece is "Albatross"--which happened to be written by Judy herself. My 8-year-old self made a good choice!