Lmst

Listened to #StevieWonder 's Down to Earth and I Was Made to Love Her. Both are mostly Motown, but with some surprises. He takes on #OtisRedding, #SmokeyRobinson, #RayCharles, and #JamesBrown, even #BobDylan and #MerleTravis. I respect that, but I also want to hear more of his own lyrics. IMO "I Was Made to Love Her" is the best song here, esp. for his vocals, but "Be Cool, Be Calm" is a keeper for my positive-thinking playlist. Amazing that a 16/17 year old can sing with such power.

"Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" is a #WesternSwing #noveltySong written by #MerleTravis and #TexWilliams, for Williams and his #talkingBlues style of singing. Travis wrote the bulk of the song. The original Williams version went to number one for 16 non-consecutive weeks on the #HotCountrySongs chart and became a #1HitInAugust1947 and remained at the top of the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart for six weeks. It was written in 1947 and recorded on March 27, 1947.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUCsULR6ODA

🔊 #NowPlaying on #BBC6Music

Merle Travis:
🎵 Sixteen Tons

#MerleTravis

https://bobtopia.bandcamp.com/track/merle-travis-sixteen-tons

https://open.spotify.com/track/6Jvw3KvzhMnp67v3wLbc6m

You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

#MerleTravis. 16 Tons

"Will The Circle Be Unbroken" released in November 1972.
#NittyGrittyDirtBand #WillTheCircleBeUnbroken #VintageVinyl #RoyAcuff #MotherMaybelleCarter #DocWatson #EarlScruggs #RandyScruggs #MerleTravis #PeteOswaldKirby #NormanBlake #JimmyMartin

🔊 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #Roadhouse

Merle Travis:
🎵 Nine Pound Hammer

#MerleTravis

https://merletravis.bandcamp.com/track/nine-pound-hammer-live

https://open.spotify.com/track/3rSrn37bkEtbWRk19d2OiH

Tom is now listening to 16 Tons
https://open.spotify.com/track/2lqn1KRhBZ1HBy55GVWx7a

#MerleTravis

OK, this week's prompt has nothing to do with horses (AFAIK)! 🐎 But try using the i–VII–VI–V chord progression...

Examples: “Sultans of Swing” (Dire Straits), “Sixteen Tons” (Merle Travis), “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor), “Before He Cheats” (Carrie Underwood).

#songwriting #songprompt #andalusian #cadence #musictheory #notreallyabouthorsesbutstill #direstraits #merletravis #gloriagaynor #carrieunderwood #fawm #fiftyninety #fridaythe13th

song prompt illustraion of an andalusian horse

Tom is now listening to 16 Tons
https://open.spotify.com/track/2lqn1KRhBZ1HBy55GVWx7a

#MerleTravis

Tom is now listening to 16 Tons
https://open.spotify.com/track/2lqn1KRhBZ1HBy55GVWx7a

#MerleTravis

Tom is now listening to 16 Tons
https://open.spotify.com/track/2lqn1KRhBZ1HBy55GVWx7a

#MerleTravis

As randomly chosen by survey on Mastodon, our next spotlight is on number 997 on The List, submitted by dwenius. (The survey choices given were “My”, “Empire”, “Of”, and “Dirt”, following the earlier survey with “You”, “Could Have”, “It”, “All”; as the winning selection,”Dirt”, was the last choice and only 2 albums in The List have “dirt” in the title, the survey result was translated as picking the last one.)

Want 2 hours of ol’ timey, finger pickin’ country folk, bluegrass, and gospel classics such as “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “I Saw the Light”? Well, here you are. This double album features a ton of collaborations with people such as Mother Maybelle Carter (i.e., June Carter Cash’s mother), Doc Watson, and Merle Travis. The album was so successful that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band tried it two more times – Volume II (1989) features the likes of Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, and John Denver, and Volume III (2002) Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, and Tom Petty. So, if this is your sort of thing, I think your listening is sorted for a while.

Before you listen, make sure your harmonica or washboard is nearby.

Note on the image included: As you may notice after clicking on the above links, the image included here is not the front cover of the album, but is instead the back cover. I don’t wish to censor the art of any of the albums on The List, but the front cover has images of the Confederate flag, which of course today is recognized as a hate symbol. Given the time the album was released, the musical content of the album (which, as far as I know, isn’t itself problematic), and the presence of Union flags (as well as a photo of a Union soldier) on the front cover, presumably the point of the cover was not to promote hate symbols in any way. So, since there is no ability to add content warnings or sensitive image filters on the WordPress side to show up with the automatic cross-posting on the Mastodon side, I have chosen instead to provide alternate art, to keep the problematic images out of your timeline.

https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/07/03/nitty-gritty-dirt-band-will-the-circle-be-unbroken-1972-us/

#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #bluegrass #country #countryFolk #DocWatson #MaybelleCarter #MerleTravis #NittyGrittyDirtBand