New Hold Steady!!

With the new Hold Steady album called "Heaven is Whenever" on the way for May 4 release, here is the first single to tide us fans over. After a few listens, I'm hooked!

Phish-Watcher of the Skies

Break out your smoking utensil of choice....

The other night Phish helped induct Genesis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame not by playing "Land of Confusion" or "I Can't Dance", but by nailing the 1972 Gabriel-era classic "Watcher of the Skies". They also completely massacred "No Reply at All" (which while watching I had to suspect Trey was back on the drugs), but this more then made up for it. You can certainly hear the roots of Phish's sound in this one.

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Very sad...

Elvis Costello and Friends Play Dead

In what has to be the greatest television show in history, Elvis Costello's "Spectacle" featured an episode with guests Allen Toussaint, Levon Helm, Nick Lowe, Richard Thompson, and Larry Campbell. That would be cool enough, but imagine my surprise when they busted into the Grateful Dead classic "Tennessee Jed"!

A fantastic version of this kicks off Levon's excellent "Electric Dirt" release from last year, but this is a kick just to hear Costello sing it and to relish in Toussaint and Thompson's great musical flourishes. Jerry Garcia would be very proud.

After years of trying to explain to people that The Dead were far richer then just stoned, noodling jam musicians, you have no idea how happy I am that folks are finally noticing how great their songwriting was. This may just be one of my favorite covers of all time!

Wilco Cover Neil Young

One week from tonight I will be seeing Wilco in Madison, WI and I sincerely hope they play this one!!

The band learned the Neil Young/Buffalo Springfield classic "Broken Arrow" for a Music Cares benefit show that took place a couple of weeks ago in which all the artists played Neil tunes. By all accounts, their performance of this bizarre, challenging track was the evening's highlight. It seems the band liked it enough that it showed up in the encore of their tour opener the other night.

Check it out for yourself and see why Wilco continues to be one of my favorite working bands....

And the Best Anti-Drug Song of All Time is......

Don't, Don't, Don't Do it!!!!!!

Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard-One Fast Move and I'm Gone

"'One fast move or I'm gone,' I realize, gone the way of the last three years of drunken hopelessness... that feeling when you wake up with the delirium tremens with the fear of early death dripping from your ears like those special heavy cobwebs spiders weave in the hot countries, the feeling of being a bentback mudmad monster groaning underground in hot steaming mud pulling a long hot burden nowhere, the feeling of standing...."

The most pleasant surprise of 2009 had to be the paring of Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard for the album "One Fast Move and I'm Gone". The album was inspired from Jack Kerouac's classic novel "Big Sur" about Jack attempting (and failing) to come to terms with his life after "On the Road".

Taking quotes from the novel and merging it with original lyrics, Jay Farrar (teaming with Ben Gibbard) created a project that could have been a complete mess and turned it into my favorite album of the year. That fact that on paper Ben and Jay seem worlds apart musically only adds to the joy of the project. If you don't already have this, it is a must hear.

Last night at the funky Turner Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI, I had the pleasure of seeing Ben and Jay perform the project live. Never the most dynamic performers, Jay and Ben simply let the songs and Kerouac's masterful words do the talking. Thanks to You Tube, I found video of the entire show they performed at the El Ray Theater back in October. Here are some highlights.