We really appreciate all the positive feedback we’re getting about our podcasts, and we’re glad that they’ve been so useful to programmers. We know your time is always crunched. We love to have you all visiting the site regularly for new podcasts and other content. However, if it would be more convenient — especially if it would be helpful to you to listen to the podcasts on your iPods — we thought we’d make sure that you know how to set up an RSS feed. This means that each new Songlines podcast would automatically download every time that you open iTunes.
Here’s how to set it up:
1. Open iTunes.
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3. In the box that pops up, enter the following URL: http://www.songlinesmusic.com/?feed=rss2.
4. Click the arrow next to songlinesmusic.com in iTunes to get past podcasts that you might’ve missed.
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“I am not a writer,” declared Bettye LaVette with a chuckle before launching into “Before the Money Came (The Ballad of Bettye LaVette),” a song she did indeed co-write that was her last song of the night at the Highline Ballroom on Monday. Throughout the set, the soul singer delivered a scorching version of “They Call It Love” associated with Ray Charles; kicked her shoes off and sat cross-legged onstage as she transformed Willie Nelson’s “Somebody Pick Up the Pieces” into a soul number; and — as an old soul that’s been chewed up and spat out by the record industry — gave an astounding rendition of Elton John’s “Talking Old Soldiers,” lending it new significance.
All of these songs were hand-picked by Spooner Oldham for her new album The Scene of the Crime, but choosing to end her performance with the sole track she penned on the project was a tough declaration of just exactly what she’s capable of. Though she might have attempted to conceal her strengths behind a self-deprecating laugh, LaVette is a woman that has defied the hard times, and rightfully emerged victorious. As a result, she’s not a woman who suffers much from self-doubt, a point she gleefully proved in writing and performing this song.
“All my friends on the Grammy shows
I was stuck in Detroit
trying to open doors
record deals kept falling apart,
one with Atlantic nearly broke my heart”
Although she had enjoyed several hits with stand-alone singles during the preceding decade, LaVette was robbed when her first record Child of the Seventies was inexplicably shelved by Atlantic in 1972 (she was 26). Not one to wallow in self-pity or wait around for an apology, LaVette spent the next three decades on the road, amassing fans and enduring a brief and not terribly successful stint with Motown. Then in 1999, a French soul collector discovered Child of the Seventies. He licensed the rights to the album from Atlantic and released it in his native country the following year.
What followed has been termed a “Bettye LaVette revival,” a misleading description to anyone who has seen her live. Watching this brazen, powerful 61-year-old woman, a dynamic singer with a physique any 20-year-old would envy storming across the stage and commanding the room as she belted out lines like “I was singing R&B back in ’62, before you were born, and your Momma too!” It was apparent that Bettye LaVette has never gone away.
That said, with the handful of records LaVette has released (bearing titles like I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise), it’s hard to miss the fact that she was getting something off her chest. Today, her load lightened and her head held high, you get the sense that the songs pouring out of her come from a place of satisfaction, not bitterness, as she cheekily reminds us: “Forty years I kept singing / before the money started rolling in.” These days, LaVette is laughing all the way to the bank.
You’ll get a strong sense of who LaVette is by listening to The Scene of the Crime, but her pride and the sheer force of her personality only truly transcend in watching this hurricane of a woman take pure delight in the audience, her music, and her achievements. “I got so much to say / so proud I was built this way…”
Bettye LaVette is a writer, as well as a singer. She’s a force of nature, a fighter, but to call her a survivor would be an understatement: she’s doing a whole lot more than merely surviving.
–Julia Clarke
In the wake of their new release Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley fans concerned that the band would become more of a Jenny Lewis solo project than a group effort got all the reassurance they needed Sunday night at Webster Hall.
The second of two sold-out New York shows got off to a wobbly start, as guitarist Blake Sennett and the crew scrambled to deal with a technical problem, while the seemingly dauntless Lewis began by belting out “It’s a Hit” from their last album More Adventurous. Though she acted oblivious to what was going on behind her, Lewis clearly had her finger on the button, inviting Sennett, or “B-Man” as she calls him, into the action as soon as he was up and running. The day before had been Sennett’s birthday, and he debuted a new flashing belt buckle bearing his nickname, a fitting accessory to the band’s new sound and look.
Rilo Kiley has turned up the heat on Under the Blacklight, delivering a flashier and darker affair than ever before, and their live act has progressed accordingly, with an explosive light show to match the songs. Over the course of the night, they played twenty songs from their four albums and two side projects, at points wowing the crowd as they played something new, and getting the audience in on the act as backup chorus during “With Arms Outstretched.”
In the three years since their last album together, Sennett has released a second album with his side project The Elected, and Lewis put out her first solo record with the Watson twins, both to critical acclaim. Because the band has always boasted two stars, the side projects always made Rilo fans leery. Even Sennett himself, as he has confessed in recent interviews, was frightened. But when Under the Blacklight was released in August, we could hear that absence had indeed made the heart grow fonder, or in this case made the music grow stronger.
Though Lewis — a born star possessing a crystalline voice and unabashed sex appeal — certainly ruled the show for the first five songs, as the set progressed she receded to her keyboard and melodica, and the spotlight steadily moved to Sennett, himself a true showman. Performing “Dreamworld,” the one song on the album Sennett wrote and sings lead vocals on, and also “Ripchord” from the last album, new fans got a taste of the true partnership that exists in this band (and from the lack requests shouted out by the audience, there were clearly a good deal of new fans mixed in with die-hards). In fact, during the encore, Lewis revealed she had written “Give a Little Love” on Under the Blacklight for Sennett before launching into it, lending a new meaning to its vocals: “I know you better than you want me to…”
To seal the deal, toward the end of the set, Rabbit Fur Coat fans were rewarded with a rendition of “Rise Up with Fists!” infused with the edgier sound of Rilo Kiley 2007, which was immediately followed by a version of “Greetings in Braille” from The Elected’s 2004 record Me First. Rilo Kiley: nothing if not democratic.
–Julia Clarke
Setlist:
It’s a Hit
Close Call
Portions for Foxes
Paint’s Peeling
Breakin’ Up
Dreamworld
The Moneymaker
Wires and Waves
Ripchord
With Arms Outstretched
A Man/Me/Then Jim
Blacklight Loop
Silver Lining
I Never
Smoke Detector
Rise Up with Fists!
Greetings in Braille
Spectacular Views
I’ve always taken pains to make these podcast introductions factual and impersonal, but I’m not doing that for this one. That’s because I finally got to see Joe Henry live last night. I’m pleased to say that a long, long wait to see one of my favorite artists paid dividends.
I found out about Joe Henry relatively late in his career — I fell in love with his 1999 record, Fuse, which was already his seventh, and have delighted in the three he’s made since, including his new one, Civilians. Though it seems like I missed out on a lot of years with Joe, I’m amazed to discover how many Triple A programmers in 2007 still don’t know much about this brilliant artist.
Even if you don’t know Joe’s cinematic, meticulously-written music, chances are that you love a record he’s produced, or one of the luminaries who line up to play on his records. He’s worked with Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint, Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette, the Jayhawks, Jim White, Kristin Hersh, Aimee Mann, Meshell Ndegeocello, Loudon Wainwright III, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Jakob Dylan, Ani DiFranco, Victoria Williams, Mary Gauthier, T-Bone Burnett, Chris Whitley, Daniel Lanois, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Van Dyke Parks, Jay Bellerose, Jim Keltner, Ron Miles, Brad Mehldau, Marc Ribot, Ornette Coleman… the list goes on.
Joe doesn’t play many live shows, which is why it took me such a long time to see him. This tour stops in New York, Boston, and LA. That’s it. Last night’s show at the Gramercy Theatre in New York featured most of the great tracks from Civilians, rendered live with a vibrancy that I didn’t necessarily expect. I thought I might find more noir, less joy, but it was a loose, rousing set — due in no small part to the elegance and virtuosity of the stage’s two supporting guitarists, Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz.
Enough of my yapping. Let’s let Julia Clarke tell you more about the new record.
Ben Harper is one of those rare artists that’s a natural fit for any radio station in the broad tapestry of the Triple A format. His confident, easygoing new record, Lifeline, is the result of lots of hard work, and genuine old-school chops. Ben and his band, the Innocent Criminals — bassist Juan Nelson, keyboard player Jason Yates, guitarist Michael Ward, drummer Oliver Charles, and percussionist Leon Mobley — went into a Paris studio immediately following the final show of their tour for Ben’s prior release, Both Sides of the Gun, and laid down all 11 tracks, straight to analog, in only seven days. Julia Clarke will tell you more about their recording process in this Songlines podcast.
Here’s the classy video for “Fight Outta You” from the new record:
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals will perform a song from Lifeline this Friday night on Late Night with Conan O’Brien at 12:35am ET/PT & 11:35pm CT on NBC. Check local listings for details.
Many Canadian fans, critics and artists think that the Weakerthans’ last record, Reconstruction Site, is one of that country’s greatest albums of all time. And frontman John K. Sampson is widely considered to be one of Canada’s finest songwriters. So, why haven’t you heard of this band? We don’t know. But seven minutes spent with Julia Clarke might help to clue you in.
Earlimart is firmly rooted in the fertile musical ground of their L.A. neighborhood, Silver Lake. This small enclave has been a welcome host to many developing artists, beginning with Beck and Elliott Smith in the ’90s, and more recently, sprouting Sea Wolf, Silversun Pickups, Let’s Go Sailing, and Irving. Earlimart founder Aaron Espinoza has been around for it all, and has done much to foster growth in the scene: he operates and produces at a local studio, The Ship, and just started his own label, Majordomo. Earlimart’s new single is “Answers & Questions”; Julia Clarke will tell you more about the band’s fifth record, Mentor Tormentor, in this edition of the Songlines podcast.
Prefix Magazine asked Espinoza about the album’s clever title. I like what he had to say: “The title is supposed to be about how a person can be both a mentor and a tormentor. How someone can be both a positive and negative force in your life. The songs’ subject matter is like that, too: how someone who you deeply love and put all your trust and friendship into and give up everything to — you can receive all of these great things from them, but they can also crush you instantly. It’s that kind of fragile relationship that can be good and bad.”
Wednesday September 12th 2007, 2:50 pm
Filed under: Open Your Ears
Posted by: Melanie
Everyone is falling in love with the new collaborative record Raising Sand from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. This video clues you in to the process of its creation. Check it out!
Thanks to a severe financial drought pervading the Clarke household, my summer activities this year included a walk along the boardwalk at Coney Island, two weekends in Vermont, and a visit to the world’s oldest book shop in Bethlehem, PA. That wasn’t the actual purpose of the trip; I was visiting family. Not finding a whole lot to do in the town that calls itself Christmas City, we took a stroll down Main Street where the Moravian Book Shop stands. Founded in 1745, and operating in its current location since 1871, it earned the coveted title of the country’s (and possibly the world’s) oldest continuously operating book store when John Smith & Son closed in 2000.
I must admit, I was mildly excited (I was in Bethlehem, remember) by the prospect of popping in and browsing the dusty leatherbound volumes, mostly classics, where countless academics and great thinkers before me had presumably come to enlightened conclusions about timely matters. I envisioned uneven wooden floors, sunlight catching the centuries-old dust as it streamed in through window panes of that thick, wavy glass you tend to see in old places. Perhaps there would portraits of intelligentsia past and present hanging on the walls.
“As you can see, it’s become a bit commercialized,” my sister-in-law chuckled as we walked in. She wasn’t kidding. Instead of the ceiling-high shelves laden with volumes displaying their titles in gold print on their spines that I’d imagined, the walls were bare. There was no ladder-on-wheels to reach the very high-up ones (presumably the Faulkners that you’d have to really, really want to read in order to go all the way up there). In fact, there weren’t any books in visible range at all. It was a gift shop.
Upon first taking in that odd, but kind of standard collection of knick knacks one finds in a gift shop - funky wallets, phenomenally expensive day planners, fluffy pens and plastic necklaces - I decided that the books must be located in the back of the surprisingly large store. After tripping over a life-sized stuffed Rottweiler whose purpose I could not determine, I made my way to the back of the store, through a section containing heftily-priced nightgowns and an astonishing array of lavender scented toiletries, to find myself in a coffee shop selling gourmet foods, and beyond that an inexplicable section that was selling Christmas decorations in July.
Now don’t get me wrong: all of these items were very nice and it would probably be a great place to get your Christmas shopping done. I was just a bit disappointed to find no tangible evidence of history - or even any books - in the country’s oldest book store. (To be fair, I think there were books of the Barnes & Noble variety on the lower level, but I found myself distracted by an enormous pepper mill shaped like a golf ball and never made it down there.)
An hour later I emerged, having spent $16.95 on The Wine Lover’s Companion Book, which was essentially a notepad where I could record notes about wine that I had enjoyed. It was about the closest thing to an actual book I could find on the main floor. Feeling a little cheated, I began to question why I am so bothered when historical sites aren’t preserved in their original form. I am all for progress, but it has always seemed such a shame to me to strip places of whatever characteristics made them of historical value in the first place, and then rather silly to then tout them for that historical value.
For instance, when I lived in Boston, I was invariably surprised when I alighted the (country’s oldest) subway at State Street only to find that the station itself resided in The Old State House. As the former home of the British Government in Boston, and the site of the reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it always seemed to me that it ought to now hold something a bit more significant than a subway. On a side note, across the street from this is the site of the famed Boston Massacre, which is now a traffic island.
In New York, public outcry at such developments tends to be somewhat more common, and usually concerns business with an importance that is more cultural than historical, such as the demise of Tower Records, a corporation that had stood for a whopping twenty years. Another example is the forced closure of the famed CBGB’s nightclub which was reported across the country, or of the Chelsea Hotel, former home to Syd and Nancy, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, which made headlines this summer when its longtime manager was replaced by a major hotelier that specializes in turning historic places into high-end inns. This news came much to the disgust of those who view the hotel’s decrepitude as inspirational “shabby chic.”
It is these last two examples that have made me begin to rethink my nostalgic aversion to revamping historic sites. From what I’ve seen of it, the decaying Chelsea could probably use a facelift in order to continue legally operating as a hotel, and CBGB’s hadn’t been making a significant contribution to the music scene in years, if not decades, when it finally closed its doors. The final week’s lineup included performances by Bad Brains, The Dictators, Avail, Bouncing Souls, and the only act I have ever heard of, Blondie, was also twenty years past any kind of significance. And the capitalist deep inside me realizes that the Moravian Bookstore probably would have crumbled away years ago if not for the happy tourist buying overpriced ornaments. As for Boston, who wants to commemorate a massacre anyway?
What I’ve realized is that cultural significance itself is relative. We need to pick our battles when it comes to preserving history, and allow the rest to become a tourist trap. Nostalgia alone cannot sustain us; in fact it tends to be nostalgia that hinders progress. So I will just have to make do with taking one last look back, and then looking forward to the next bookshop or venue or hotel that will inspire a generation. Besides, I’ve just read about a 120-year-old church up in British Columbia was recently turned into a winery, so I need to go and start planning my trip up there so I can being filling out The Wine Lover’s Companion Book.
Matt Nathanson is an artist who really knows how to connect with his fans. He could teach classes in between-song banter, and he’s constantly adding personal content to his MySpace page, on which he boasts over 30,000 friends. His sixth record, Some Mad Hope, is out now on Vanguard Records, and it promises to be his biggest commercial success to date. This Songlines podcast will tell you a little bit more about Matt.
