Help Me! Songs you are proud are on your MP3 player

[mutepointe]

These recent music video games that we're been playing have confirmed my suspicions that you folks know some rockin music. Lots of stuff that I never heard before. I'm going to torque my MP3 player with some of your suggestions. One of the things that I would like to be able to do is be prepared for when some asks me what I'm listening to right now. I can't lie and it's always something like, "The Soundtrack to the Lord of the Rings". I get the geek eye roll, never the fist bump. I wanna be able to say something like "Switchfoot's Faust....something or other." You have got to hear the bluesy clear vocals. Help me. Let's do a makeover. Some stuff that was done in the last 10 years that is cool but still sounds nice and sweet to an old man would be a bonus, especially if sung by a black woman with roots in a gospel choir. Not Whitney though, she's spiraling.

I would explain how I came to miss rock music growing up but that's for another day.

[MikeS]

First, if you want gospel, go for gospel. I really like The Angels "Live and Joyful in Charleston." Great singing and, like everything Mapleshade Records does, brilliantly recorded.

http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/cds/07932.php

Second, life without Tom Waits is a life only partially lived. if you want recent, it's hard to beat "Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers & Basmatis." If you want a perhaps more accessible introduction I recommend "Frank's Wild Years." Tom, much like single malt Scotch, can be an acquired taste for some folk. Since it was conceived as a stage production it's programatic nature lets you follow along with one of the more intriguing minds of my (our?) generation. An added bonus is that Tom Waits rates at least a 9.5 on any reasonable person's cool-o-meter.

Warren Zevon's last album, "The Wind," is, I think, well worth your time. After he got his diagnosis of terminal mesothelioma he spent the year he had left putting together his thoughts about life into music and playing them with his closest friends. It's got meaning and it rocks without turning your inner ear into custard.

Finally, if you want hear a black woman sing clear, bluesy vocals, you would be hard pressed to do better than Big Mama Thornton. Her version of "Hound Dog" inspired someone named Elvis try his own. "Ball N' Chain" is on my MP3 player most of the time.

Note: The opinions expressed above are the author's alone. You, or anyone else, are free not to like any of my suggestions. Just don't try to change my mind about them.

[Thomaston]

Sounds to me like you might dig some Robert Randolph. Check out these samples:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Robert-Rand ... 61831.html

Edit to say: you won't hear gospel vocals with this. It's mostly highly energetic instrumental blues.

[Hotblack]

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Best album in any genre of the last few years. Glorious sound, sumptuous lyrics, beautifully played. It'll make you laugh, cry and scream with joy. Powerful stuff, and cool as f**k.

[crookedtune]

Pathetic, I know, but I still can't get past Johnny Winter's 1969 self-titled debut on Columbia. "Drown in My Own Tears" is a pinnacle of expression few blues singers have reached, IMHO.

[Bloomfield]

Check out the Sweetback Sisters.

http://www.thesweetbacksisters.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thesweetbacksisters

[emmline]

(hi Bloo...nice to see you de-lurk now and then...)

I confess to having the strangest assortment, but here's a few I'm glad (but I wouldn't say proud) to have at the moment:

Steve Martin, The Crow. He wrote it, and plays the banjo.
The Highwayman, Johnny, Willie, Waylon, and Chris
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, (best version ever.)
Well, and of course Old Crow Medicine Show Wagon Wheel.

[Bloomfield]

(hi Bloo...nice to see you de-lurk now and then...)

I didn't think anyone remembered me.

[fearfaoin]

Bettye LaVette, from the early days of soul,
has put out a CD of British Invasion covers.
Here she is doing The Who's "Reign O'er Me":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJi6maTueSc


Don't know if it is your thing, but it's different:
The Mediaeval Baebes sing songs from the really
olden days, largely in dead languages. Some are
traditional, some written by band members to
sound old. All the instrumentation (when there
is any) is true to the period.
Dring Bell on youtube (similar story to Chaucer's Miller's Tale)
Adam Lay Ybounden (15th century song about the Garden of Eden)
Plus: total hotties, yo.



Katherine Blake, the leader of the Baebes, used
to be in a band called "Miranda Sex Garden" which
could easily be on my iPod just so I can tell people
the band name. They started as a madrigal group
and morphed into an industrial punk band. Pretty
weird.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_Sex_Garden


Oh, and I love almost everything by the North Virginia
folk band, confusingly named "Eddie from Ohio". This
song was submitted to be the new Virginia state song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUVzDkLAPk
Julie Murphy's voice is just terrific.

[Denny]

Bettye LaVette, from the early days of soul,
has put out a CD of British Invasion covers.
Here she is doing The Who's "Reign O'er Me":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJi6maTueSc

watchin' the faces of those old folks in the audience was priceless

[fearfaoin]

watchin' the faces of those old folks in the audience was priceless

You mean Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend?
They were probably too stunned that she did
their song so much better. Babs seemed pretty
into it...

[Denny]

ah, yep

[fearfaoin]

I'm going through my iTunes... here's a good one.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican acoustic guitar
duo. It's a mix of rock and Flamenco guitar which
produces some pretty amazing instrumental stuff.

Diablo Rojo
Stairway to Heaven cover
Watch Gabriela's strumming after 3 minutes into
Stairway. Makes me want to chew my hands off
in jealousy. Reminds me of Jake Shimabukuro's
Ukulele strumming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

[dwest]

I'll second Rodrigo and Gabriela. I like Tony Trischka I have all his stuff from a year and a bit ago. I have "Robot Plane Flies Over Arkansas" on my MP3 right now. Check out No Strings Attachedhttp://www.enessay.com/

[Latticino]

Doubt I can really help, as I've never been a "cool" music listener. In fact my son makes me turn the music down when I drop him off at school so he doesn't get embarassed in front of his peers. However, I'm proud of just about everything I have on my portable music player (even the flute and whistle tutorial stuff). I'm just too old now to worry about what others think of my music.

That being said, a couple of the gospel/blues female vocalists I listen to are:

Anjelique Kidjo (not really gospel, unless you rate traditional African music as the roots)
Joan Armatrading (should be obvious)
Laura Love (the "Octaroon" album is brilliant, she also plays bass and on that one does an interesting version of Amazing Grace)
Odetta (again, obvious)
Norah Jones (kind of easy listening at times, but at others wonderful)
Tracey Chapman (check out the album "New Beginning" sometime)