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Here's a little something different today. Folk-rocker Brandi Carlile, along with the twins, Phil and Tim Hanseroth, have just issued the official video for "Keep Your Heart Young," an excellent song from her latest album, Bear Creek . Together the song and video will really make you smile. The brief three minute film was made with the help of fans who sent Carlile their home clips for inclusion in the final product.

Jazz At Oberlin features Dave Brubeck on piano and Paul Desmond of "Take Five" fame on alto sax as well as bassist Ron Crotty and drummer Lloyd Davis. The four played the groundbreaking concert captured on this album at Oberlin College on March 2, 1953. At the time this performance was on the cutting edge of jazz with both Brubeck and Desmond playing their best. The leader's piano is both frantic and melodic and he proves the really great jazz musicians are always better live than they are on record. As for Desmond's work, I normally prefer the tenor sax due to its deeper and richer tone but his alto work here is perfect. The five song CD opens with a slow but slightly off-kilter version of "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You" followed by "Perdido," a very fast jam session that sounds just as contemporary today as it did in 1953. The group follows them up with reworkings of three more standards: "Stardust," "The Way You Look...

It's fitting that Dawes calls Los Angeles home because the quartet's easy rock is attractive to fans of the once popular, so-called, Laurel Canyon sound that rose to prominence out of the West Coast's most musical city way back in the 1970s. All three of the band's albums immediately remind you of the singer-songwriters who were on radio and the charts back in the day. Much has been written about how Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and a host of other more modern composers with literary pretensions (such as Conor Oberst) have influenced the young outfit's writing. Dawes is definitely a rock band for thinking adults. Composer Taylor Goldsmith bathes his songs in intelligent lyrics with musical arrangements that are neither too loud nor too soft. His lead vocals won't make you forget the great voices of our time but, like Browne, James Taylor, Steve Forbert, and others cut from the same cloth his singing is comforting, in tune, and perf...

During his superb Independence Day concert at Tanglewood Music Center , the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the cozy Berkshire Mountains, Rock 'n roll Hall-of-Famer Jackson Browne told the audience he was honored to be "a guest in James Taylor's house." The latter has been the regular host of the venue's Fourth of July celebration for nearly two decades but this year, with Taylor unable to attend, the night was handed over to Browne. The Southern Californian paid tribute to his fellow American music legend mid-concert when he and two of his elite sidemen, siblings Sean and Sara Watkins , sang the title track from Taylor's career making masterpiece album with a harmony laced arrangement of "Sweet Baby James." The choice was especially appropriate because JT is a local favorite who mentioned nearby Stockbridge, Massachusetts in his song. The above story is relevant because it's an example of Browne's unusual song choices th...

Traffic's finest set of music was collected together on their masterpiece that almost wasn't. John Barleycorn Must Die was supposed to be Steve Winwood's first solo record after the group's demise. The singer and keyboard player's original intent was to play every instrument himself but shortly into the sessions he asked two of his old bandmates, Jim Capaldi (drums, lyrics, and backing vocals) and Chris Wood (saxophone and flute), for help and Traffic was suddenly and surprisingly back in business. Winwood and Capaldi's songs were inspired and the whole affair ended up as a showcase for the organist's formidable talents. Even so, while Capaldi and Wood were clearly sidemen their contributions should not be discounted. The latter's saxophone and Capaldi's backbeat, as well as the leader's Hammond organ and piano, were major reasons the record's opening number, the instrumental "Glad," goes down in history as one of the great ja...

Just a few weeks ago Ray Manzarek became the second member of The Doors to pass away. Sadly, many other groups of the 60s and 70s have also lost two or more members. Those missing roll call include four of the original five Temptations as well as three of The Four Tops. It's the same for The Mamas & The Papas , The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Dave Clark Five, The Bee Gees, Atlanta Rhythm Section , The Band, The Byrds, The Ramones, Booker T. & the MGs, Traffic, Iron Butterfly, and The E Street Band. Unfortunately, the long list, including both famous names and some lesser lights, doesn't end there. Solo artists who have gone to the great beyond in recent years include Donna Summer, Gerry Rafferty, Bob Welch, Johnny Cash, and Warren Zevon. Among the living Glen Campbell is currently fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer's Disease. I've always believed that pop music occupied a bigger place in the hearts and daily lives of the generation that grew up...