Happy Birthday Esquerita!

Remembering the great Esquerita on his birthday with "Rockin' The Joint" and "Crazy, Crazy Feeling."

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives share "Country Star"

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives will be inducted into the Musicians Hall Of Fame Tuesday. Listen to "Country Star"

Here's the scoop...

The Five-time GRAMMY-winning artist and Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart has just released “Country Star,” his first single release since 2017’s critically-acclaimed album Way Out West. “Country Star” precedes a momentous week in an already extraordinary career now entering its fifth decade. On November 22, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives will be inducted into the prestigious Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN alongside Vince Gill and Don McLean, and on November 26 he will celebrate his 50th year in Nashville and 30th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member with a special performance. 

 ​​”There’s a lot of crazy imagery in this song,” explains Stuart. “I’ve always loved songs like ‘Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,’ ‘Long Journey Home,’ and ‘Salty Dog Blues.’ Those don’t really say much of anything but they feel good and they’re a perfect way to start any show. ‘Country Star’ qualifies as one of those songs. It’s lightly autobiographical and highly danceable and it has a twang factor that’s just exactly right.”

 “Country Star” is Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives’ – Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson and Chris Scruggs – first single release for Snakefarm, a label housed under the Spinefarm Music Group and owned by UMG. 

Stuart is set to tour the US throughout 2023 and will make an appearance at Stagecoach Festival on Saturday April 29, 2023. See Marty Stuart's tour schedule below. 

On December 8, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith will kick off the grand re-opening of the historic and recently renovated Ellis Theater in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi, which Stuart has been working to re-open for seven years. The inaugural four night series will be followed by shows by Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill and the Gaither Vocal band, with upcoming shows from Old Crow Medicine Show, Hardy, North Mississippi Allstars and more. The venue sits on the campus of the future Marty Stuart Congress of Country Music, which will celebrate the rich cultural heritage of country music through live musical performance and educational programming, and will be home to Stuart’s unique collection of artifacts, around 20,000 cherished items, includes images, instruments and outfits from the greatest names in American roots music. 

Watch a live performance of "Country Star" shot in Corsicana, TX followed by an audio clip and a list of upcoming tour dates below.

Marty Stuart on tour

11/26 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry House

12/1 – Wickenburg, AZ – Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts

12/2 – Rife, CO – The Ute Theater and Events Center

12/3 – Las Vegas, NV – The Showroom at the Golden Nugget

1/27 – Marietta, OH – People’s Bank Theatre

2/10 – Augusta, GA – Imperial Theatre

2/17 – Clearwater, FL – Bilheimer Capitol Theatre

2/18 – Ocala, FL – Reilly Arts Center

2/19 – Stuart, FL – Lyric Theatre

4/27 – Tucson, AZ – Fox Tucson Theatre

4/29 – Indio, CA – Stagecoach Festival

5/13 – Greeneville, TN – Niswonger Performing Arts Center

That time Miles Davis went 'out' in London in 1969

Miles' get down with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea & Jack Dejohnette at Ronnie Scott's on Nov 2, 1969 just appeared on vinyl. 

R.I.P. Nico Fidenco, 1933-2022

Sadly, Italian singer and soundtrack maestro Nico Fidenco has passed away at the age of 89. He'll be greatly missed. 

Monster Magnet's early psych epic "Tab" resurfaces via God Unknown Records

The original Monster Magnet line-up of Dave Wyndorf, John McBain & Tim Cronin cut Tab in 1988. Now you can get it on vinyl.

Here's the scoop...

The track Tab was originally released by Monster Magnet back in 1988 on the demo 'Forget About Life, I’m High On Dope'. This is a 2021 mix of the original demo. with both tracks being over 24 minutes each. It's viewed as an influential track with psychedelic / heavy psych / space rock and stoner rock fans and will sit nicely alongside Sleep's 'Dopesmoker'. 

Julian Cope described the original release as distilling Hawkwind, Sabbath and The Stooges into a lysergic soup of brown acid and bathtub meth, and ultimately cultivating a “Altamont vibe”; that is, the negative end of the psychedelic spectrum.

Get a copy of Monster Magnet's Test Patterns: Vol. 1 with a new remix of "Tab" and the original demo version right here. 

Check out the teaser clip and the 1989 cassette version of "Tab" for reference. 

Remembering jazz great Don Cherry on his birthday

Celebrating the birthday of multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Don Cherry with a few organic get-downs. 

Janis Joplin's 1964 'Typewriter Tape' gets legit reissue for Record Store Day

Janis Joplin's informal 1964 rehearsal session at Jorma  Kaukonen's house is being issued on vinyl by Omnivore November 25th.

Here's the scoop...

Jorma Kaukonen (later of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) met a singer named Janis Joplin at a hootenanny in San Jose, California, in the fall of 1962. Over the following years, Janis would call on Jorma to accompany her at gigs. As they continued to play together, the Bay Area was changing musically and developing into the legendary San Francisco scene to which both Janis and Jorma would be integral. During a rehearsal for a show in North Beach, Jorma started his reel-to-reel machine to capture what they were working on. For decades, this recording was the stuff of legend, with inferior, multi-generational transfers making their way through select collector’s circles. Now, for the very first time, it is available officially, with the blessing and cooperation of both the Janis Joplin Estate and Jorma Kaukonen.

The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House contains this legendary recording, featuring Restoration and Mastering from Grammy-winner Michael Graves. The tracks include Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma’s wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. This may have just been a rehearsal, but it is so much more.

Featuring Joplin originals, as well as blues classics, The Legendary Typewriter Tape is an intimate glimpse into two major artists at the beginnings of what would become highly influential careers. As Jorma says in his liner notes: “This is indeed a window into a simpler time when the music truly was everything.”

Enjoy being a fly on the wall and revel in the magic of The Legendary Typewriter Tape. 

Note: Those who miss the LP version The Legendary Typewriter Tape on Record Store Day (Nov. 25) can get the CD release (available Dec 2) via Omnivore Recordings right here.  

Check out a sampling of what was recorded at Jorma's house following the teaser clip and track listing. 

Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen – The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma's House

“ARE WE TAPING NOW?” (dialog)

TROUBLE IN MIND

LONG BLACK TRAIN

KANSAS CITY BLUES

HESITATION BLUES

NOBODY KNOWS YOU WHEN YOU’RE DOWN AND OUT

“HOW ‘BOUT THIS?” (dialog)

DADDY, DADDY, DADDY