Justin Townes Earle, Generationals

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        Justin Townes Earle - What I Mean to You off his 2009 album Midnight at the Movies
Earle's songs are what you would expect from a classic americana artist. However, he's 29, lives in the East Village, is a recovering drug addict, and is Steve Earle's kid. It's guys like him and Ryan Bingham and bands like Son Volt that should introduce people to country music rather than the junk they pump on the country radio stations. It can be really good music that has meaning, and it's not all just trucks, dogs, and patriotism done wrong. And it's music that anyone can relate to. He's not just some Southern hick that doesn't know what life is like off of the farm. He lives in Manhattan. "What I Mean to You" is a song about trying to figure out just where he stands with his girl. Yeah, it's got a slide guitar and that really simple drum beat that backs so many slow old school country songs, but it shows off his voice and doesn't rely on clever plays on words to distract you from how overly produced it is like radio country does. It's simple. And that's why it's good.

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         Generationals - Greenleaf off their 2011 album Actor-Caster
This album came out two days ago, and this is the first time I've listened to it. They are from New Orleans, and might be the first non-jazz band that I know from New Orleans, which could just be an indictment of my lack of knowledge. For some reason I'm reminded of Peter Bjorn and John when I listen to Generationals. In a good way, because I like Peter Bjorn and John. If you listen to "Young Folks" and then "Greenleaf" back to back, you'll hear the similarities.

Modest Mouse, Dr. Dog

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  Modest Mouse - Dark Center of the Universe off their 2000 album The Moon and Antartica

Modest Mouse has a very distinct sound. They have so much going on in a lot of their songs, that it almost makes it easy to get focused on one aspect of the song. At least on their older stuff, their songs also reflect a pretty strong disgust with the world. Or maybe it's distrust, or disillusionment. But even if you don't share the same bleak outlook as them, their lyrics are smart and well crafted and make you think. Their music is pretty good too.

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       Dr. Dog - Unbearable Why, off of their 2010 album Shame Shame

Dr. Dog is from Philadelphia, so I started hearing them on the public radio station around here. I heard two songs I liked, so I bought the album, and I haven't been disappointed. They go fast, they go slow, and they have great drum beats and catchy timing with their vocals. "Unbearable Why" is one of my favorites. I really like these guys, because all of their songs have become sing alongs for me.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, G-Love

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  Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hump De Bump off their 2006 album Stadium Arcadium: Jupiter

I've been a huge Chili Peppers fan for a long time, and I respect their mid '90s albums, but I think their last album is their best. There is not a bad song on the entire two disc album. This one is one of my favorites though. It's got old school Chilis funk to it but with new school style. Get this album if you don't have it.

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        G-Love - Milk and Sugar, off of his 2011 album Fixin' To Die

I'm short on time so I'm rehashing G-Love's new album. It is worth the second look anyway. This song is another great mix of classic G meets the new folksy. The title is even similar to one of his old songs (Milk and Cereal.) He again has the harmonica in there, and his signature snarly voice. For some reason I always picture him singing with a look on his face like he just smelled something terrible, if that makes sense. It's an overdone accent and voice, but it's totally G-Love. You can kind of see what I mean in this video.

Carbon Leaf, Trombone Shorty

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       Carbon Leaf - Changeless off their 2004 album Indian Summer

Carbon Leaf was all over the radio in D.C. in the early 2000's with "The Boxer." So I kept up with them and found that there is a very Celtic feel to a lot of their music. I also found that I love a lot of their songs. This song hits me hard every time I listen to it. I can pretty much only think of one way to interpret the meaning of the song as a whole. Friends leaving each other for one reason or another. The singer laments the change while trying to remember the good times. 


Damn. Pretty much just makes me realize that no matter what you do, life goes on and leaves some of your relationships in the past. Even really good ones. In addition to my wife, who thankfully has stuck around for a while and doesn't seem inclined to leave, I can think of 7 people that I've thought of as my best friend over the years. I still keep in touch with three of those people; two more so than the other. So in all reality a 29% rate (2/7) of maintaining a friendship with the people who, at the time, you could never envision not being friends with, is a pretty low rate. It might just be my luck and my fairly nomadic life (moving during elementary school, moving far away for college, moving to a completely new city after college, having two friends move permanently away), but I would wager that a lot of people have this same experience.


This song is sung in the present tense, as if the singer knows what is about to happen and wants to make sure the friendship lasts even though distance may separate the two people. It's hard as shit to see that coming. 

"What are the odds, what are the odds
This ends and we don't meet again?
What are the odds, what are the odds
That I will miss your smile"

I'm reminded of something that happened when I was a junior in college. I was 21 and still had a whole year left at school. Nothing significant was going to change when I came back in the fall. I worked with a small group of people and as I went to my last shift for the year, the girl that worked before me was leaving. She was a senior and we weren't really friends, but knew each other through work. As she left I said "see ya later." She responded with "have a great life" as she walked out. I haven't seen her since and I can't even remember her name. But I swear I will always remember what she said. I even understood it at the time. We meet so many people that it's impossible to maintain relationships with all of them. But it's important to maintain relationships with people you care about, even if it is hard due to distance. It's completely worth it, because without friends what do you have? Your job?

"Let fondness be our souvenir.
To keep it warm, we'll keep it near,
otherwise with no heart to recall.
A memory's just a memory after all.
I will not leave this pulse alone
Though it may take the long way home,
I will not wait until the end
for my applause for you my friend."

To me this verse means "don't let the distance get between us. Let's keep our friendship going, even if it takes a long time for us to see each other again." And the last two lines seem to be saying "I won't wait until our friendship has ended to tell you that I'm proud of you and that I enjoy what we have." That's pretty prescient of the writer. But more than likely it was written to be a warning in the present but conceived due to a lost friendship. Don't take your friends for granted and try to remember that life will lead you in different directions, but that shouldn't be reason enough to lose touch with those that really matter. 


You would think that a song about losing friends might be corny, contrived, and skirt around the true emotions, but this song seems like it's straight from the heart, which is why I love it.

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        Trombone Shorty - Hurricane Season, off of his 2010 album Backatown

Since that was such a long and emotional post, I'll keep this one short and objective. I have fun listening to Trombone Shorty. He's young, he's been playing since he was six and I've just started listening to him. But I have a pretty large spot in my heart for good jazz. This one is an instrumental that sounds like big band music and for some reason reminds me of the theme song to Friday Night Fights. I'll be checking back on him in future posts. It's worth a listen.

Bob Schneider, Fang Island

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       Bob Schneider - Big Blue Sea off his 2001 album Lonelyland

My favorite Bob Schneider songs have a funk inspiration behind them. He uses trumpets and  hip hop lyrical rhythm to supplement his singer/songwriter side. I saw him in concert a little over a year ago, and it was a great show. He got everyone up and dancing when with his salsa and funk songs ("Bombonaza", "Tarantula") and then brought it back to chill with his ballads like "Changing My Mind." Plus he had a forty plus year old man playing trumpet in a pink bunny suit for the entire show. Big Blue Sea is from his first album and it's got a slight bit of funk at it's beachy core.

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       Fang Island - Life Coach, off of their self titled 2010 debut album.

 I just heard of these guys while looking through SXSW artists. They are from Brooklyn and 
they describe their mission as making music that sounds like "everyone high-fiving everyone." At this point I don't know them very well, but that sounds like fun. Happy Friday.

Sufjan Stevens, Adele

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       Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville off his 2005 album Come on Feel the Illinoise!

Sufjan Stevens is a different kind of artist. This album was the second and last of what he said was going to be a 50 part series of albums about each of the states, which he later said was just a gag. I'm disappointed that he didn't at least drag it out a little farther. His songs have a full orchestra sound and harmonized lyrics, so there ends up being a pretty busy feel to his songs. I haven't really ever explored what his lyrics are about, probably because I'm caught up in all of the music going on. Or perhaps it's because I spend all my time reading his song titles, which sometimes read like paragraphs. The longest being;

"The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'"

Even though I haven't read into his lyrics, I love the music he makes on this album. Jacksonville is one of my favorites.

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       Adele - Rolling in the Deep, off of her 2011 album 21

Other than the Spice Girls when I was 9, I've never really been much into female british pop singers. However, I've now listened to both of Adele's albums and she sounds more like she's from 1960's Alabama than 21st century Britain. I can't say much other than she has a really good voice. This song's been all over the radio here, and strangely, it's pretty popular on the rock station. Ok, you can now stop laughing about the Spice Girls, I was 9.

Kings of Leon, Ryan Bingham

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       Kings of Leon - Taper Jean Girl off their 2004 album Aha Shake Heartbreak

You know that I could use somebodddeeeey. Everybody knows that line. But before Sex on Fire and Use Somebody made them a huge hit, Kings of Leon had already been making great music. I have not listened to their very first album, but Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times (album #'s 2 & 3) are both really well done the whole way through. Listen to the entirety of both of those albums and you will forget how much radio stations ruined "Use Somebody" by playing it so damn much. "Taper Jean Girl" is my favorite from Heartbreak. It gets me moving right from the start every time I hear it. I know my co-workers and all previous roommates I have had hate me for my constant foot and pen tapping, but it's not my fault. Blame the Kings of Leon.

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       Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses - Direction of the Wind, off of his 2010 album Junky Star

Ryan Bingham made me convinced that I don't care as much about sports as I used to. Quick background; I pretty much had two things going on in my life when I was younger; sports and school. I still love sports, and I think that will be ingrained in me forever, but I've found a lot of other things that I enjoy, and I've found that there is not as much time for those things if you are constantly thinking about who's in first place. (The exception is Notre Dame football, which I will always make time for.)

So, I had my sights set on seeing Bingham at a small bar in Philly last October. For two or three months prior to the show I was excited that the show was coming up. My wife and I were planning on going. However, my wife is also a big Phillies fan (full disclosure; I've become one since moving here four years ago.) The Phillies made the NLCS, my in-laws got tickets to game 1 in Philadelphia, and it just so happened to be on the same night as the concert. In the past we've gone to a lot of games, and I always enjoy going. But on that night, all I really wanted to do was go to the concert. I went to the game and I had fun, but the Phillies play at least 162 games a year... and Ryan Bingham will only play at the North Star Bar once. 


That made me realize that I've turned a corner. Sports isn't my favorite thing to do anymore. I still enjoy playing, but until the playoffs, other things are more important. So, in that very specific way, this song is appropriate to me since it's saying that there is a change in opinion, a change in thinking. I'm just not as into sports as I used to be. I've figured out there is a lot else out there that is interesting and develops you as a person, rather than just allowing you to remember that Mark McLemore was the Orioles' second basemen in 1993. Sports can teach you a lot about life, but you have to have the other parts of life in order to put those lessons to practice. 


In "Direction of the Wind", Bingham's talking about how there has been a change in the way people think about social issues; race, class, civil rights. He thinks it's a change for the better and he's hoping that it catches on and continues in that direction. It's interesting to me to see the opinions of a young guy (Bingham is 29) from West Texas and how different they are from what you might have expected from that region in the past. I can think of a few other instances (Brad Paisley comes to mind), but there aren't too many country artists that really try to tackle tolerance and social equality in their music. His music sounds like old school country/americana, but his lyrics are clearly that of the younger generation. 


By the way, this is a video of the song being performed at the concert that I missed.