| Sweet New Songs, Thanks to Pandora.com
October 10, 2008
I've mentioned Madeleine Peyroux here before, I think. She's a new Billy Holiday. Oh yeah, she's good! Bluesy, torchy, quirky. French. Well, I just heard on Pandora.com a super-duper song with OYB at its core: "Back in Your Own Back Yard." Here's a "free radio" site that offers direct links to songs. Gotta register after a couple plays, it looks like. http://www.imeem.com/halftyme/music/Noje__Oa/madeleine_peyroux_william_ga_back_in_your_own_back_yard/
Then we've been hearing Greg Brown's "Billy from the Hills" from time to time on Pandora.com as well. I posted the lyrics, and the Amazon link in another post. It's another super "spirit of OYB" song. It's Greg's tribute song to his dad, who was/is Billy from the hills. It's a haunting, strong, bold song about a capable but awkward hillbilly teenager who ran the big traplines and would come to town for some good, clean, high octane fun. You wouldn't want to mess with Billy, he says. The song has heart, about a sizeable group of people who grew up that way and who also have heart, but whose lives aren't often celebrated. (I found this track at Last.fm, but couldn't figure out the gimmick.)
Then there's the Joe Ely song "Me and Billy the Kid." It's a desperate, hard-driving cowboy (well, outlaw, more like) song that reminds me of the "Texas Gang" worldclass novel that I just published (as does the "Deadwood" TV series...only, of course, neither has the depth, level of genius or humor of the novel). Those Austin singersongwriters sure have the chops! (Lucinda, too!) http://www.imeem.com/popmusic12/music/ZGaCWjVe/joe_ely_me_and_billy_the_kid/
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