The Sweet Smell of Music In The Air

There’s been lots of music going on around the house the past few days:

• We’ve been family air-guitaring around the living room to Foxboro Hot Tubs.
• The kids are preparing for their Christmas concerts.
• My wife is sitting in bed next to me telling me about Esperanza Spaulding (who is a Portland native and apparently dropped out of high school but ended up teaching at Berklee at age 20).
• The band is practicing (and getting marginally above complete suckiness). If we could only get all three players in the room at the same time…
• I’ve been digitizing a bunch of albums, some to get songs for the band (like Fleetwood Mac‘s Kiln House and Bob Seger‘s Smokin’ O.P.’s, which is much better than I remember) and some for Sal’s Boutique (like Poco‘s second album and Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds‘ Falling In Love, which was actually Hamilton, Joe Frank and Dennison).
• And, I’ve been finding a bunch of good stuff from the library, a smattering of which is contained herein:

Garland Jeffries – 96 Tears – Whatever happened to Garland Jeffries? He had his 15 minutes of fame about 30 years ago when this was a semi-popular song around campus. It’s still kind of a fun song.

Kris Kristofferson – Chase The Feeling – As the expression goes, he could sing the Tuscaloosa phonebook and give it soul.

The Deltones – I’ll Take You There – The original version of the Staples Singers‘ hit, from the great Trojan Singles box set.

Hacienda Brothers – Rebound – Just getting to know these guys. This one’s from an album produced by the brilliant Dan Penn.

Nicole Willis And The Soul Investigators – Soul Investigators Theme – Learn more here.

Levin Helm and The RCO All-Stars – Summertime Blues – I’m trying to convince the band to cover ANY version of this song except the Who (‘cuz I just can’t play like Keith Moon). And, I can dance to this version.

Artwork: Dune Flower by Dean Uhlinger