Bloggerhythms

On Live at Billy Bob's Texas , Willie Nelson is so laid back one may believe he is playing a concert from his bed. Even the late Perry Como - who was the ultimate, laidback crooner - offered more excitement than Nelson and his band exhibited during this concert. Both he and the band sound exhausted. We all know that Nelson is no showman in concert. No one has ever expected him to be a dynamic Springsteen-style performer, but he was always able to deliver the goods. Yet, all through this live show the legend sounds as if he's barely awake. Too many times Nelson lazily "speak sings" his lyrics. This is especially noticeable on more familiar material such as "All of Me," "Blue Skies" and an absolutely awful take of "On the Road Again." Throughout the entire 20 song performance - that thankfully clocks in at less than an hour - his guitar playing sounds as unmelodic as his singing. The bonus live DVD that comes with the CD doesn't add ...

Dolly Parton's "Jolene" went all the way to the #1 spot on both the Canadian and American country charts, but on Billboard's US Hot 100 it only climbed to #60. Despite that, it is Parton's most covered song.  In a 2018 interview the country queen revealed she wrote both "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" on the same day. I'd call that a very good day. Both songs appear on the album pictured here. The song's interesting backstory is revealed in its first verse. " Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene,  I'm begging of you please don't take my man.  Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene,  Please don't take him just because you can." Parton and her new husband, Carl Dean, were in a bank when a gorgeous, red-headed teller flirted with him. This upset the soon-to-be legend so she wrote a song about the incident. Its  lyrics never address whether or not Jolene really intended to steal Dean from her. T he record's name and the ha...

Due to all of the bad news of the last two years the sad events of September 11, 2001 may have receded deep into the minds of many people. But, on this twentieth anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters - and the heroics of the passengers on United 93 - I believe it's time to discuss one of the saddest songs you'll ever hear. Seamus Kelleher  is known around the Philadelphia area as an excellent rock guitarist when he was a member of the now disbanded, locally popular, Celtic-rock quintet, Blackthorn. He left the band in 2011 to pursue his own muse and released two solo albums, both of them were favorably reviewed here . Kelleher is quite eclectic. He's versatile on both acoustic and electric guitars. Not only can he play the hard driving blues-rock of Rory Gallagher, he also covers slide guitarist Elmore James. On his second album, Another Side of Town , he gets mellow and topical with " Streets of London ," a folk song by English singer-s...

In the majority of  cases recording artists' most revered and  famous records are made early in their careers. Later, many of them will "jump the shark" - as the saying goes - or recede into the background as pop music tastes change. Unless you're a diehard fan of a particular artist many listeners will not even know what an artist's last album is. Beginning today, I'm hoping to change that by running a brand new, occasional series named Last Albums .   To qualify as a last album it must have been recorded as a set of new material that was intended to be released to the public as a complete album but not necessarily the last one. Live albums, greatest hits or "best of" collections and compilations will not be included, nor will posthumous releases of leftover tracks cobbled together to make a final album. The first one, covered below, has become a blues-rock classic. __________________________________________ Janis Joplin only made four studio album...