Elizabeth Cook Gospel EP

My new favorite country singer/songwriter Elizabeth Cook recently released a new gospel EP entitled Gospel Plow. It's so good, even non-believers will be hitting the repeat button. Here she is two weeks ago on Letterman performing "Hear Jerusalem Calling."



Hear Jerusalem Calling
Buy: Gospel Plow (2012)

Also check out Letterman's interview with Elizabeth from 2011. She's so honest and down-to-earth, and you can tell that Dave is really enjoying the interview.

Bonus! Another of Dave's favorites was in New York for something on that same day, because Jason Isbell showed up to accompany Elizabeth on some gorgeous Townes Van Zandt covers.




Cook performs at Club Passim in Cambridge on July 17. See you there!

15th Anniversary of Too Far To Care

File this under, "OMG!" The Old 97′s are going tour in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the release of their seminal album Too Far To Care, one of my Top 5 albums of all time. Each show will feature the album performed live, start to finish, with a second set of even more old favorites. (!!!) TFTC will also be released on vinyl. I'm so exited!!!

Old 97's - Niteclub.mp3
Buy: Too Far to Care (1997)

Rancher Brothers - W. TX Teardrops
From: Too Far to Demo (1996?)

The Ranchero Brothers are Old 97's lead singer Rhett Miller and bassist Murry Hammond. A while ago Murry uploaded a bunch the Too Far to Care demos to the 97's web site. It's not posted anymore, but there is a "Live at Cicero's, St. Louis, MO, 4-19-96" download which is probably damn close to the demo sessions. I'm downloading it pronto and will report back...

8/24 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
8/25 San Antonio, TX – Sam’s Burger Joint
8/26 El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
8/28 Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
8/29 Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
8/30 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
8/31 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre

9/1 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
9/2 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
9/4 Seattle, WA – The Showbox @ The Market
9/5 Vancouver, BC
9/6 Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre
9/7 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
9/8 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
9/10 Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
9/11 Omaha, NE – The Slowdown
9/12 Columbia, MO – The Blue Note

10/14 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Festival
10/16 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
10/17 Madison, WI – Capitol Theater
10/18 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10/19 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
10/20 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall

10/22 Boston, MA – Royale Night Club

10/23 New York, NY – Webster Hall
10/25 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
10/26 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
10/27 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
10/29 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom

The State of the Blog Address and Levon Helm

My fellow music fans. Sometimes life gets in the way of your passions. Since I moved to Boston, this blog has been a real piece of crap. Maybe 4 or 5 posts a month, if I'm lucky. Things are finally turning around here in Beantown, and I want to jump-start and revamp My Aimz is True. I need a redesign, and eventually a new URL. I'm tired of dealing with the Blogger/Google man. But before I do all of that, I will start posting about the music I love once again! Yay!

Many very important musicians have passed away in the last few months, and I have not properly honored any of them yet. I know that blogs are supposed to be timely and all of that shit, but come on, these musicians were important and influential enough to national and international music that they should be honored again and again, and not just in the week after they die.

Let's start with Levon Helm (1940-2012). When I was a college sophomore, around 19-20 years old, and thought that I was cool as hell but I was actually a total tool, that time when you are naive enough to believe that all of your dreams are actually going to come true, and your dreams and ambitions have no limits, my friend Jenn and I were convinced that we were going to start a classic rock radio station, and the first song we were going to play on our opening show was "Ophelia" by The Band. I spent the summer of 1993 alternating between The Band and whatever other classic rock I was into (but mostly The Band). This is when I discovered Levon Helm. Of course the classic rock station never materialized. I went to grad school for biochemistry and Jenn dropped out after our junior year to move to New York. I have been a loyal Levon Helm fan for the last 19 years, and I am sure that Jenn has too.

Ophelia
Buy: Greatest Hits (2003 remaster)

I won't go into a long biography on Mr. Helm, but I will direct you to the best thing on the internet written about him and his music by my colleague/buddy Adios Lounge: The Roots of Levon Helm.

On of my favorites:



I also really enjoyed Mr. Helm's last two records, Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. Yeah his voice had gone to hell, but the passion behind the music is still there. Loud and clear.

False Hearted Love Blues
Buy: Dirt Farmer (2007)

White Dov
Buy: Electric Dirt (2009)

"Levon was the glue, not just in The Band, but in all of what people think of when they think of North American music. He was a great unifier; a great glue. He unified blues and country, rural and city, and even North and South. Luckily he showed us all the way to keep it together and let it swing."
- Jeff Tweedy, lead singer of Wilco

May Feel Bad For You

Even though it's June....D'oh! I just started a new job which has diverted my attention from blogging. And I have to be at work tomorrow at 7 so fee bad for me!!!! This month's theme is FBFY Unplugged. I think it's one of the better comps we have had in the past few months. You can thank your local music miscreant for that. For a list of contributors see the FBFY web site.

Download


1. Beck - Stagolee
Avalon Blues: A Tribute To Mississippi John Hurt (2001)
Submitted By: noteethleroy
Comments: I wish Beck would do more simple stuff, he’s damn good at it.

2. Cowboy Junkies - Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning
Acoustic Junk (2009)
Submitted By: erschen

3. Darrell Scott - American Tune
Buy: Modern Hymns (2008)
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: One of my favorite Paul Simon songs, covered by one of my favorite singer-songwriters. A song that never fails to touch my soul.

4. Tarrus Riley - Black Mother Pray
Mecoustic (2012)
Submitted By: tincanman2010
Comments: No-end-to-his-talent young singer’s latest dares you to take a spiritual inventory. More here: http://bit.ly/HOU94Z

5. Sara Watkins - The Foothills
Sun Midnight Sun (2012)
Submitted By: Mando Lines
Comments: Written by Watkins and Blake Mills. Big acoustic instrumental tune, sounds like a movie theme. One of two instrumentals on Watkins’ great new record, which contains a duet with Fiona Apple as well as guest vocals by Jackson Browne and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes).

6. Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline
What The Folk–Belcourt Theater–Nashville, TN (2005)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: This version of ENS is much different than the one Snider included on his Peace, Love & Anarchy release of demos and rarities or that he now performs in his shows. And frankly, I like it better. I was really fortunate to be in the audience the night of this show to hear it. Todd’s show that night capped a great triple-header. Tommy Womack opened and was then followed by Hayes Carll. Todd then took center stage as the headliner and was accompanied by Womack and Jeff Austin of the Yonder Mountain String Band.

7. DeepSeaGreen - Stuck on the Inside
Acoustic Sessions (2011)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: DeepSeaGreen are a garage-rock band from London formed in late 2008. The four piece is made up of brothers Jon and Daniel Jefford (on guitar and drums respectively), Trent Halliday (vocals, guitar) and Marco Menestrina (bass).

8. Jason and Alison - Loveless Park
Woodshed (1995)
Submitted By: Ryan (Verbow @ altcountrytab.ca)
Comments: Before forming Verbow, Jason Narducy and Alison Chesley played together as an acoustic duo and put out this album. This is one of my favorite songs – simple, beautiful melody that betrays somewhat downer lyrics. Great song.

9. James McMurtry - We Can’t Make it Here
unreleased (2004)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: I yanked this acoustic version off of McMurtry’s web site a while ago. Very few bands and artists write topical or political songs, and even fewer do it well. McMurtry excels at it, and when all is said and done, this song may be the song that best represents the 2000’s.

10. Will Johnson - Iso-Residue (acoustic)
Buy: original on Candidate Waltz (2011)
Submitted By: Slowcoustic
Comments: I always was a big fan of Will Johnson and here he shows he can also take an more upbeat Centro-matic tune and give it the solo Will Johnson acoustic touch. This guy can rarely do wrong acoustically in my books.

11. Loomer - Anastasia
From: BBC Live Session track from 2005 (original on Songs of the Wild West Island 2006)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Fell in love with this track when I first heard it and it remains a favourite, it’s a different tempo and mood (and all the better for it in IMHO) than the album version.  Not sure if the band are still together or recording a quick Google revealed little accept a parked website but you can listen to Anastasia and other tracks from the album here http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/LOOMER and download at eMusic.

12. The Old 97’s - Question
Hit By A Train: The Best Of Old 97′s (2006)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: This one goes out to Laura. I surprised her with ‘the question’ over 22 years ago.

13. Mississippi John Hurt - Coffee Blues (Live)
Salty Dog (orig. 1963, comp. album 2009)
Submitted By: Gorrck
Comments: Acoustic, but with a microphone. Does that still count? I traded the Bluesmobile for a microphone.

14. Lauderdale - Broken Man
Moving On (B Sides/unreleased) (2011)
Submitted By: Corey Flegel – This Is American Music

15. Greg Dulli - Candy Cane Crawl
From: non-album, live track from 2010 acoustic tour
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: Submitting this track on Greg fucking Dulli’s 46th birthday. It’s one of my favorite songs by my favorite artist, containing nearly all the elements that make me love him – the cinematic sweep, the perfectly imperfect vocals, and the knife that cuts my soul right in two and lets all the dirt and light and blood and secret beauty pour right out. He’s accompanied by Dave Roesser on guitar and backing vocals, and Rick Nelson on cello.

16. Jolie Holland - Goodbye California
Escondida (2004)
Submitted By: Brad Kelley
Comments: Jolie Holland was in the Be Good Tanyas, but I only recently discovered her. Love her voice and inflections.

17. Ernie Carpenter - Elk River Blues
Tales of Elk River Country (1986)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: The Elk River runs through central WV and was dammed off in 1958 to form Sutton Lake. Ernie Carpenter wrote this tune while sitting on the ridge looking down at Sutton Lake as it covered what used to be his family’s old homeplace. Such powerful emotions from just one fiddle.