SOUNDTRACK: DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE & GILLIAN WELCH-Tiny Desk Concert #45 (February 1, 2010).
I had never heard of Dave Rawlings (although I have heard of Gillian Welch). He is evidently a producer and session musician. And the recording of this Tiny Desk Concert is timed with the release of his first album.
Rawlings and Welch (who sang on a number of tracks on the album) play a mix of country and alt-country/folk. And while their voices work great together, I think it’s Rawlings’ guitar playing that really sets this Concert apart.
They play four songs, and if the blurb is correct, the first was a warm up that sounded great so they kept it. That first song is Bill Monroe’s “I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” a rollicking whirlwind of guitar fun with heavy country flavors. The second song they play is the lead track on the album. “Ruby” is a mellow ballad which reminds me of two other songs (see if you think the same).
The third song they introduce as “a depressing song.” It is minor key and slow. The melody is surprisingly catchy. Although when it shifts to Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” it’s not because the songs sound alike but because they have the same spirit. Rawlings’ voice doesn’t sound like Young’s at all, but he sounds great with this great song (and Welch’s harmonies are perfect).
The final song “Sweet Tooth” is a very country (sill country) song. What I like about it is that Rawlings puts his capo on the 10th fret! It’s no a song I’d listen to, but it’s cool to know they can play it.
Check it out here.
[READ: April 4, 2015] “The Basement”
Ocampo was an Argentinian poet and short story writer. This is a short story from Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces. which was translated by Daniel Balderston.
I didn’t really get this story. It is essentially about a woman living in a basement apartment. She says it is very cold in winter but an Eden in the hot summer months. She has very few things with her and no electricity or running water, but she is very clean. And she doesn’t have to pay rent. The lady upstairs feeds her (and she has candy, as well).
This entire excerpt is one very long paragraph and as the paragraph moves along she beings talking about the mice who share her place with her (they are preferable to the flies that are so prevalent in Buenos Aires). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 