Multiple Mondays - Holiday Update Edition

Hi, everyone. This is an odd edition of Multiple Mondays. I'm going to update a lot of older MM posts with new versions from new artists.

First, let's start with the suggestions from Boy Howdy. He runs Cover Lay Down, the cover blog I'd most like to run if I weren't so dang lazy. In the comments section here last year, he recommended Amy Kuney's (video) take on "River" and Rosie Thomas' cover of "Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)." They're both wonderful, magical Christmas tracks -- Rosie Thomas does something unexpected and unlikely: she takes a decades-old novelty song and transforms it into something meaningful and, yes, significant.

Remember "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky?" Sure you do. Well, REM want to play you a version called "(Ghost) Reindeer In The Sky."

Then, we'll hear two more versions of Charles Brown's classic "Merry Christmas Baby." First, Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore growls his way through a bluesy 1971 take on it. Then, Sweden's Krystoffer Ragnstam knocks the song out of the park. If 1971 were a lot weirder, and you lived in a college town, this is the type of blues-pop fusion you could've heard in that alternate universe.

As always, I recommend the zipfile, but you can cherrypick if you insist.

Zipfile

1. Amy Kuney - River 1 2
2. Rosie Thomas - Christmas Don't Be Late 1 2
3. REM - Ghost Reindeer In The Sky 1 2
4. Rudy Ray Moore - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2
5. Krystoffer Ragnstam - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Ewen Forfar

Ewen Forfar is a local Edinburgh folkie. He plays a couple of days a week at the Royal Oak Folk club, which released a compilation CD last year. That CD is the source of today's recording of Stag.

This starts out, musically and lyrically, to be pretty much the same as last week's version of Stag, but the last verse is very different, with a brutally funny surprise, and the news of Stag's ecologically progressive transportation choice.

If you're in Edinburgh, apparently the Royal Oak is the place to hear folk music, and if you're in luck Ewen might play Stag for you.

Ewen Forfar - Stagolee
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Buy from Amazon

Dr. John

Dr. John (previously here and here) is a N'awlins legend, who started his career as a voodoo hypnotist, turned mainstream funker, then a MOR standard jazz singer, and is currently a more political singer, whose albums include ties to all his previously visited styles.

I saw him in Atlanta two weeks ago, and he was desitively fan-tastic. Sadly, he held the opening slot, so I only got to see him play for a little over an hour (and also, no version of Stag), but he rocked my little world. (My concert companion, as is her wont, went in knowing little about him, but came out converted to fandom.)

Here are five of the songs I loved the most that night. Dr. John's version of "Saint James Infirmary" (like his version of "Goodnight Irene," which I haven't included here) is dirty and funky and swaggeringly rock-and-roll. His solo version (the studio cut includes Rickie Lee Jones) of "Makin' Whoopee" is outstandingly clean and crisp. Though, as it was played with his rock backup band, The Lower 911, it had a hefty backbeat to it as well.

Dr. John's only hit was "Right Place, Wrong Time," a funky 1973 confection that owes as much to its legendary NOLA producer, Allen Touissant, as it does to Mac himself. The live performance was an awful lot of fun -- we were all invited to stand up and dance, but the people waving their arms in the air at every "Whooo"? That was spontaneous.

My favorite Dr. John song is "I Walk On Guilded Splinters," from his first (and IMHO best) solo album, Gris Gris. Live, the rock band had to perform the backing vocals, and time has passed, so the live version didn't sound just like the record, but it was an excellent 8 minutes that also included an extended percussion-only break, along with a quick quote from "Danse Kalinda Da Boom," which pleased me no end.

After his scheduled onstage time was up, the audience refused to let Dr. John leave -- he played an encore of a song from his latest -- and angriest -- album, entitled The City That Care Forgot. "Save Our Wetlands," though it has an overtly enviro-political message, is as far from issue rock as you can get.

Sadly, I had to leave after the set, as I had to work. Dr. John's friends The Neville Brothers were the headliners (he's been working with them a lot lately). I haven't been able to find a review online anywhere, but if they had him return to the stage for a joint song, I'll kick myself all year.

I hadn't been to a live show in a long time (just click the "live shows" tag to see how long), and I'd forgotten how much fun live music is, how the bass kicks me in the belly and the crowd buoys me up. I need to get back in that habit. Thanks to Chris "CD" for prodding me to comb through concert listings for this show!

Dr. John - Saint James Infirmary
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Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones - Makin' Whoopee
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Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time
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Dr. John - I Walk On Guilded Splinters
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Dr. John and Terrance Simien - Save Our Wetlands
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Buy Gris Gris. Do it now.

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Nathan Singleton and His Sideshow Tragedy

Here's another recent take on Stag. This one's from Nathan Singleton and His Sideshow Tragedy (official MySpace). This original version, from last year, reminds me of some of Bob Dylan's best long, rambling story-songs, like "Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts" or "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream."* Musically, this is one of the rockingest, most driving versions of Stag I've ever heard.

Some people like this take on Stag; some do not. Me? I do, most definitely. I'll queue it up again in a minute, right after I listen to "Highlands."

(Oh, and greetings to all my high school friends who found their way over from Facebook. If you have no idea what this post is about, please click here to learn more.)

Nathan Singleton and His Sideshow Tragedy - The Ballad of Stagolee and The Preacher Man
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Buy from Amazon

*Or "Tweeter and the Monkeyman" by Bob's distant cousin, Lucky Wilbury.

Stagger Lee Saturdays - Po Cholley

Po Cholley is also known by his real name, Charlie Robertson. There's next to nothing about him online, except, um, his email, phone number and street address. I hope that's not his home number -- I wouldn't want all you Stagger Lee goons calling him at home. (All right, he's also linked to here and here.)

So this is a nice, loose take on Stag, from a 2008 live tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, though Cholley ranges through several other versions of the song, from Furry Lewis' "when you lose your money" moral to even a paraphrase from Stan Freberg's "Heartbreak Hotel".

The buy link goes to that album, but he only has this one song on it, and sadly I can't find a place to buy anything else by him anywhere. If anyone out there knows anything, shout it out in the comments.

Po' Cholley - Stagolee
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Buy from Amazon

The Sads - Santa

The Sads are a Prague band (and namesake song recorders) fronted by my good friend Steven Rusling, who'll be contributing a guest entry this month. This is the final track from their new album, the band at their most Magnetic Fieldsian. Steve says:

I originally wrote it as a fast jangley happy sounding Phil Spector type number. Then, possibly, now that I think about it, because I wouldn't know how to record that, I slowed it down and weirded it up a bit, which maybe changed the landscape a bit.

For the record, She'll Grow Back is officially neutral on the topic of cussing in Christmas music -- I don't wanna encourage people to shout obscenities into a mike while chimes and sleighbells fill the track, but I'm all about freedom too. Just be warned: this song has a 12-letter word in it that starts with the letter M.

The Sads - Santa

The Sads - Why Do You Do Me Like You Do

The Sads are a Prague band featuring my good friend, Steven Rusling. Incidentally, they're also the band who recorded this blog's namesake song, though that doesn't sound much like their finished album. The album release show is tonight in Prague, so I thought I'd post a song from it here.

This is "Why Do You Do Me Like You Do," which is not likely to be the first, or even the second, single from the album. But it's one of my personal favorites, and probably has the most luxurious production. (If Nick Drake had been happier with the pop feel of stuff like "Pink Moon," I imagine this is what his later stuff would sound like.)

If you click on the Myspace link above, you can also hear "Send Me The Pillow" which has a nice droney atmosphere, and "Phoebe Cates" which has become a part of my brain. There's no buy link today, since the album is only for sale if you go to the show in Prague. (When it's available, I'll come back and edit this post.)

The Sads - Why Do You Do Me Like You Do

Long-overdue Mike Doughty post

So it's been four weeks now since LebowskiFest, and I just couldn't seem to get these posts up. Sorry 'bout that. (There were a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of strands in the ol' Duder's head.)

Mike Doughty was by no means the only artist playing at LebowskiFest. However, he was certainly my favorite (and he seems to have enjoyed himself). He used to be in a band called Soul Coughing -- maybe you've heard of them? -- but left to pursue his folk-rock troubadour muse.

I've heard a few live recordings of Mike Doughty, and they were all with a full rock and roll band, but for this show he only brought his exquisitely talented guitarist Andrew "Scrap" Livingston, which was just fine with me. The show had a real intimate vibe to it, odd considering it was attended by hundreds of fans, outside a bowling alley. Sadly, I didn't get to hear a few of my five favorite Mike Doughty songs (for example, "Fort Hood," which you can hear by clicking to his MySpace page via his name above), but he did play my two favorites, and even his cover of "The Gambler." He also played his song "I Hear The Bells," which contains possibly the funniest rhyming couplet in the history of pop music, even better than Frankie Laine's line from "High Noon:"

"He made a vow while in state prison,
Vowed it would be my life or his'n..."

(I won't tell you what Mike's line is, but you'll recognize it when you hear it.)

Here are a few studio cuts from Mike Doughty, songs I particularly liked the live performances of. Come back Monday for about nine versions of "Dead Flowers," which'll be my final LebowskiFest post this year.

Zip file
Buy Golden Delicious from Mike

Cat Power

I've had a crush on Cat Power for a few years now. Last week, when I finally got to see her live (at the mostly-restored Tabernacle), that crush became full-blown love. I know this seems a little weird, and if Chan ever reads this I hope she understands, but her performance style is so open, so emotional and moving, I couldn't help but fall in love.

The show was dominated by songs recorded for her latest album, Jukebox. (By my count, 12 songs were from these sessions, though one, "Fortunate Son," has yet to see release -- I can't wait.) And so is this post:

"Aretha, Sing One For Me" is a cover of George Jackson's 1972 paean to the Queen of Soul, and expresses a lot of the emotion listeners can get out of, and put back into, music. Similarly, "Song to Bobby" (the only Cat Power original in this post, one of two on the album) expresses Chan's love and admiration for Robert Allen Zimmerman, and tells a story about the two. "She's Got You" is a Patsy Cline cover, a song which isn't on the album proper (but the deluxe edition is only $2 more, and the buy link goes there anyway). Finally, my favorite song on the album, "Silver Stallion," is about freedom and horses and hope and the future (a cover of Lee Clayton, though the song might be better known as by The Highwaymen).

Chan roamed the stage all night, and as there was only one row of people between me and her, I got a great view of the show. She sang directly to the audience all night, dancing, grooving on the band (who, incidentally, are great) and working off her nerves. She even sang directly to me for about a minute, and that's when I fell in love. After the concert was over, Chan came out, sans band, and tossed us all flowers, one by one, and made a point of pulling the setlists off the stage and throwing them into the audience too. The crowd was appreciative and loving (even before getting the flowers) and we were paid back tenfold with a great, heartfelt show.

Zip file
Buy from record label

Hayden - Lonely Security Guard

I've been listening to Canada's folk-pop singer Hayden for years now, ever since I first bought the soundtrack to Steve Buscemi's masterpiece of depressing, funny cinema, Trees Lounge. And I'll be seeing him live in Atlanta next week!

This is a track from his latest album, In Field & Town. It tells the story of a gentle, origami-folding security guard, and the narrator who -- punk that he is -- doesn't have much respect for the security guard. This is a simple song, tiny and intricate, much like a good work of origami, "so real it breathes." It doesn't deal with any bigger issues (except by inference) -- all it does is tell this tiny, sweet, wry story.

I don't shout out requests at live shows, for various reasons. But I'm considering shouting out "Lonely Security Guard!" next week.

Hayden - Lonely Security Guard is now part of the zip file here.
Buy from Hayden's preferred store, Maple Music

Gnarls Barkley - Run

So this new single was leaked weeks and weeks ago, which is about 12 in blogyears. Still, it's incredible, and every single one of you will be hearing this once an hour for the next four months, so it's time to get used to it.

The CDs are finally in stores, as of today (the digital release was moved up two weeks, once the entire album was leaked, and went on to sell ridiculously well). Stay tuned -- in a few hours I'll have a "Crazy" retrospective mix.

Gnarls Barkley - Run

Buy from Amazon -- Buy from Deep Discount