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On 2/18/2016 at 4:03 AM, Christian Spaeth said:

all recorded, edited and mixed at home...

www.mymajorcompany.com/belves

 

Thanks for sharing, Christian! - I thoroughly enjoyed the whimsy of "The Belves." Looks like they had a lot of fun doing it!

 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

 

I just caught this remarkable program, tonight:

(As of this posting, AFAIK - There is only a preview available, online - Which, I have embedded, below...)

http://www.pbs.org/program/johnny-cashs-bitter-tears/

About the Program:

Based on Antonino D'Ambrosio's book "A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears," this film tells the story behind Cash's lost Native American-themed concept album and his unique collaboration with folk artist Peter Lafarge.

20160108_161604_932732johnny-cashs-bitte

 

With the still largely unknown recording, Cash placed himself in the middle of the fervent social upheavals gripping the nation in the mid-1960s. Facing censorship and an angry backlash from radio stations, DJs and fans for speaking out on behalf of Native people, Cash decided to fight back.

 

 

 

The film also chronicles the reimagining of Cash's highly controversial 1964 record on its 50th anniversary, as recorded at Nashville's historic Sound Emporium Studios by such artists as Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Norman Blake, Nancy Blake, Rhiannon Giddens, Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings and The Milk Carton Kids, working with album producer Joe Henry and legendary studio musicians Dennis Crouch, Patrick Warren and Jay Bellerose.

we-re-still-here-johnny-cash-bitter-tear

20160108_161604_584365johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161604_517561johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161604_895121johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161605_763982johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161606_040913johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161606_709016johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161606_207121johnny-cashs-bitte

20160108_161606_780196johnny-cashs-bitte

 

Here are the recordings:

(All are in a playlist index format.)

Menu icon in upper left corner.

Some more background on this first selection:

Rolling Stone Mag - Aug 2014

Americana Artists Dry Johnny Cash's 'Bitter Tears': Hear Gillian Welch's Poignant Cover

 
LA Times: Aug 2014:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Welch   

 

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/look-again-to-wind-johnny/id893667709

On Amazon   (Opens in the 'review' section)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Tears:_Ballads_of_the_American_Indian

#JohnnyCash

 

Peter La Farge was a New York-based folksinger and songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s.

He is known best for his affiliations with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_La_Farge

 

#Peter LaFarge - You Tube Channel - Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings   

(Auto-generated by the You Tube video discovery system - More info: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2579942                                    

 

 

Here are some excerpts from the 2016 film, presented as pre-broadcast teasers: 

(Again, playlist index. FYI - #2 - The Bill Miller video, does play.)

 

 

And, finally  - "Ira Hayes" . . .

Ira Hamilton Hayes was a Pima Native American -

And a United States Marine -

Who was one of the six flag raisers  -

Immortalized in the iconic photograph  -

Of the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes

Untitled-design-2-1-640x334.jpg

220px-Raising_the_Flag_outline.svg.png

Hayes is pictured to the far left

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So much of the world to see..such an education at this thread..so many things for an ignorant kid like me to learn ~ things that I'd have never, ever known. Music my mind was steeped in as a child. Artists I never knew..the overwhelming power of the orchestras. If I could spend all my days educating myself at this very thread (44 pages!), which just takes a life of it's own, I would. So much history, so much beautiful music, so many awesome live recordings, beautifully shot images...I can't get my mind around it..and it's often daunting.

For the things you guys show me, how could I ever thank you? I always trust your judgement ~ the official videos, the live orchestras, the history, the studio sessions, the interviews. I've so much gratitude, it brings tears to my eyes. You guys move me. Crew, Al, Nick, Jim Gilchrist, Vasileos, New Mexico Jim, Christian, and the other regular posters who take the time to post here..just...thanks guys. This is one of the most meaningful threads here. I never tire of it.

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2 hours ago, Rachel Cameron said:

So much of the world to see..such an education at this thread..so many things for an ignorant kid like me to learn ~ things that I'd have never, ever known. Music my mind was steeped in as a child. Artists I never knew..the overwhelming power of the orchestras. If I could spend all my days educating myself at this very thread (44 pages!), which just takes a life of it's own, I would. So much history, so much beautiful music, so many awesome live recordings, beautifully shot images...I can't get my mind around it..and it's often daunting.

For the things you guys show me, how could I ever thank you? I always trust your judgement ~ the official videos, the live orchestras, the history, the studio sessions, the interviews. I've so much gratitude, it brings tears to my eyes. You guys move me. Crew, Al, Nick, Jim Gilchrist, Vasileos, New Mexico Jim, Christian, and the other regular posters who take the time to post here..just...thanks guys. This is one of the most meaningful threads here. I never tire of it.

Wow. Such a nice positive response to the topic On My Radio. So happy it means this much to you R C.  It is one of my favorite topics in that It reveals so much more about us as individuals that another gear topic never could IMO. I post here because of my love for music... I'm sure it is such for the others too. I've discovered many things from the 2 Jims and all the other regulars with their posts. I want to say thanks to them all and you too Rachel for pointing this obvious fact out. Cheers as my buddy RVD is fond of saying.

CrewC

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Thanks Rachel - so nice to know that one is not just chucking stones into the tar lake! This below is Vaughan Williams arrangement of Old 100th. I believe that this arrangement was composed for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953. That reminds me of a very interesting book, A World in your Ear by Robert Wood, now I fear out of print, written by the Chief Engineer at the BBC back in those days. If you come across a copy it is worth snapping up. Here's the blurb:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40718050/BBC%20Engineer.pdf

And here's All Creatures... I love that between the pomp and glory of the first and last verses, there is quiet beauty of the choir and the trumpet in the middle .

 

 

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Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots-music styles -

including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues -

Resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres -

upon which it may draw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americana_music

 

Although, I'm sure, most of you are already familiar with her? ...

What follows is a profile of one such 'Americana' musician - Rhiannon Giddens.

Some of her performances; her influences; her roots:

 

(Please note:  While I can appreciate the fact, that - She might be pitchy @ times?- Which to some is non-negotiable?

I was impressed by the sum of the whole - Which, to me, far out-weighed just the few of the negatives. YMMV)

 

PERFORMANCES: (Including a brief intro.) (Note: Selection #3, features Rhiannon's sister, Lalenja, on backing vocals.)

Playlist index

      

FWIW ... Showtime Concert: "Another Day, Another Time" - You Tube - Preview only.              Google Search Results

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhiannon_Giddens

 

INFLUENCES: (Brief commentaries, each followed by the exemplar.)

Playlist index  (Useful tool to quickly cue to next selection?)   (Note: #2 features Elizabeth Cotten's 12 year old Granddaughter, singing.)

      

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cotten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Waters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ritchie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeshie_Wiley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Rosetta_Tharpe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Quivar

 

 

Continuing . . .  "INFLUENCES"

Rhiannon Giddens' commentary on her own version of the traditional song: "Black is the Color"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Is_the_Colour_Of_My_True_Love's_Hair

 


The following quote is from Rhiannon Giddens' Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/RhiannonGiddensMusic/posts/10152995651337860

(re: "Black is the Color")

"This traditional ballad has been covered by many, including Joan Baez and Nina Simone -

but I have always loved best Sheila Kay Adams' version.

She is a ballad singer from western North Carolina and is a consummate interpreter of songs.

I always thought her way was different and more soulful - I took that as a jumping off point, and pushed it further -

and Jon Batiste gives it wings with his righteous melodica playing.

I also never really understood what was going on in the original ballad, but loved the passion it hinted at.

So I rewrote all but the last verse (using an old phrase here and there) and it turned into a song about my husband;

he's a ginger but other than that it's pretty accurate." -- RG

 

Sheila Kay Adams:  
220px-Sheila_Kay_Adams.jpg
 
 

Listen to Sheila Kay Adams' version - "Black is the Color"

(source: Audio Cassette.)

   
Quote:
Sheila Kay Adams sings to a ballad singing class at Warren Wilson College.
Sheila learned these ballads from her relatives, primarily from her great-aunt, Dellie Chandler Norton.
This song she learned from Evelyn Ramsey. Sheila is from Madison County, North Carolina.
 
'Digital Library of Appalachia' - Warren Wilson College
 

 

(Apologies for being obvious, but ...) Nina Simone and, Joan Baez's, renditions of, 'Black is the Color:'

Playlist index

      

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Baez

 

A true rabbit hole... There are over 25 pages of You Tubes search results (of various, different, offerings of) -

"Black is the Color" !

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=black+is+the+color&page=26


 

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Chocolate_Drops

 . . .  has received international acclaim for their new interpretations of traditional folk music -

and for drawing attention to the contributions of African Americans to folk and popular music.

(The following is meant only as, a select representation, of their larger body of work.)

Playlist index     (Note: Although the songs here are, apparently, repeated? They are, IMO, just varied enough? - in each presentation.)

      

 

 

ROOTS

Playlist index

      

 

The following is cued, for specific, 'historical' information (i.e. the 'Roots' context,) within the performance:

 

 

 

Continuing . . . "Roots:"  (as an example)

 

Forever identified with the famed Harlem Globetrotters as the recording they played during pre-game warm-up -

and featuring "Brother Bones" Freeman Davis playing his percussive 'knuckle bones' :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_instrument

The bones are a musical instrument (more specifically, a folk instrument) which, at the simplest -

consists of a pair of animal bones -

or pieces of wood or a similar material.

Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the most commonly used true bones -

although wooden sticks shaped like the earlier true bones are now more often used.

If metal spoons are used instead, as is common in the United States, this is called "playing the spoons".

The technique probably arrived in the U.S. via Irish and other European immigrants -

and has a history stretching back to ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

 

The Bone Player by William Sidney Mount, 1856:

The_Bone_Player.jpg

 

Fragment of a Kylix, Greek, 510-500 BCE, Terracotta, red-figure technique

1024px-Dancer_with_The_Bones.jpg

 

 

A former founding member of 'CCDs' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Chocolate_Drops#Members

 

 

Continuing . . . "Roots:"

Playlist index  (Note: Selection #9, features Rhiannon's sister - Lalenja Giddens Harrington - A capella.)

      

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Negro_Jig

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odetta

Joe Thompson  - NYTimes Obituary

 

The New Basement Tapes (Rhiannon Giddens - select)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_on_the_River:_The_New_Basement_Tapes

Playlist index

      

Re: 'The New Basement Tapes Project'…

A Rhiannon Giddens quote - (Celebrate Brooklyn - Brooklyn NY - July 18 2015)

"When I was surrounded by amps, electric guitars, electric basses -

And, you know, all the wonderful views on that project -

And, I was standing there with my banjos, my fiddles, and my ovaries -

And I went "Ya Know what?  . . . It's time for a hoedown'  -

So, it's gonna be a hoedown now. Thank you so much - It's been an absolute pleasure…"


from this badge-holders footage - - only worth watching the You Tube, to hear her actual quote, at the head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgc9EDmU3as

 

 

 

 

#Rhiannon Giddens Channel - You Tube Page

 

#Carolina Chocolate Drops Channel - You Tube Page

 

#The New Basement Tapes Channel - You Tube Page

 

 

 

 

And, finally? . . .

Rhiannon Giddens' Tour Dates - Facebook page

 

 

 

.

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How The Wolf Survived: 40 Years Of Los Lobos

by Felix Contreras  NPR.ORG  Updated June 17, 2013

lobos_custom-2a600d6724371ff20667c4a4252

 Drew Reynolds PHOTO

Quote:

"Chicano hippies playing mariachi music.

That was my first impression of Los Lobos when I first saw the band back in the mid-1970s, before it had any albums out.

By that time, Los Lobos had already been a garage-rock band, so it was in the midst of falling back on our parents' music -

having discovered just how complex it was.

These guys dug deep into rancheras, son jarochos and guapangos to find the sources of the music for themselves —

and, by extension, other Baby Boomer Mexican-Americans who were calling themselves Chicanos.

 

For their first independently released album in 1978, they played that folk music and called themselves

Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles.  (See playlist, farther down.)

The band was a staple at parties when I was in college.

Then, in 1983, Los Lobos' first EP (...And a Time to Dance) fired a warning shot to rock music, suggesting impending change.

Released a year later, Los Lobos' breakthrough album — How Will the Wolf Survive? — made it clear to everyone who heard it -

That, loving The Rolling Stones, as much as Flaco Jimenez, was as natural as loving the, Stones and, say, Woody Guthrie.

 

It felt as if they were writing music from my life: Los Lobos' Grammy-winning "Anselma"  -

reminds me of my aunts spinning me around the dance floor as a kid at family parties;

I can smell my mom's coffee in the background of songs like "Saints Behind the Glass";

they bridged the gap between themselves and another passion of mine when they covered The Grateful Dead's "Bertha" -

complete with Cajun accordion fills; and they made me proud when they made a hit out of "La Bamba" -

an old Mexican folk song that my dad played to my brothers and me when we were kids

(not to mention the countless times I played it as a teenager in a Mexican wedding band).

 

It's mind-boggling to think that the group is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. (2012)

In our chat during this Guest DJ discussion, band members Louie Perez and Steve Berlin explain that the exact date is lost to history -

but say they can trace their roots back to the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We take time to dig deep into the DNA of Los Lobos by asking Perez and Berlin to bring in their own favorite tracks —

mariachi, R&B, soul, blues.

 

If we'd had more time, we'd have heard bluegrass, blues and folk music from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.

In other words, it's just another day of listening to the sound of Chicano life in America.

We have Los Lobos to thank for bringing it all together in vital, enriching music. Here's to the next 40 years. "

 

from this:      http://www.npr.org/2012/11/29/166170472/how-the-wolf-survived-40-years-of-los-lobos

 

 

from this:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Will_the_Wolf_Survive

Quote:

In 1983, the band released an extended play entitled ...And a Time to Dance, which was well received by critics -

but only sold about 50,000 copies.

However, the sales of the EP earned the group enough money to purchase a Dodge van -

enabling the band to tour throughout the United States for the first time.

The group began composing How Will the Wolf Survive? at the home of Pérez's brother-in-law -

a time in which several songs, including "A Matter of Time", were written.

Pérez explained, "We'd sit down with a guitar, a tape recorder and a jar of Taster's Choice -

and we were coffee achievers all afternoon."


The album's title and the title song were inspired by a National Geographic article -

entitled "Where Can the Wolf Survive" -

which the band members related to their own struggle to gain success in the United States -

while maintaining their Mexican roots.

Drummer Louie Pérez recalled, "It was like our group, our story:

What is this beast, this animal that the record companies can't figure out?

Will we be given the opportunity to make it or not?"

 

Playlist index

      

 
 
 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  - 

 

 

"(The harpist is) Angel Abundez." (quote from David Hidalgo)

 

The 2, above - are from this:  Shout Factory "KIKO" 16 song playlist on You Tube

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

Playlist index

      

 

 -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

 

(Humble, humble, humble...)

 

The 2 above, from this 13 song YT Playlist:  Popular Videos - eTown & Los Lobos 

And, for those who might not be familiar? ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Furay:

American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the band 'Buffalo Springfield' -

with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin.      #BuffaloSpringfield - YouTube Channel

And, 'Poco' with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner.    #Poco - You Tube Channel

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Lobos_del_Este_de_Los_Angeles

Playlist index

      

 

Playlist index

      

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

"The Ride is the 11th album by Los Lobos.

It features numerous guest musicians.

The album contains new material and also new versions of earlier Los Lobos songs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ride_Los_Lobos_album

Playlist index

      

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

Uploaded on Aug 27, 2008

Aired on PBS in 1984.

Playlist index

      

 

 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

 

The following text from:    http://nightflight.com/exclusive-book-excerpt-the-missing-man-who-co-founded-los-lobos/

"Exclusive Book Excerpt: The Missing Man who Founded Los Lobos"

By Chris Morris on September 4, 2015

My new book Los Lobos: Dream in Blue will be published by the University of Texas Press on Sept. 8, 2015.

It’s the first full-length critical history of the East Los Angeles band.

Three-time Grammy Award winners and Latin Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award honorees -

the group will receive another Lifetime Achievement acknowledgement -

at the Americana Music Awards in Nashville on Sept. 16, 2015.

This exclusive Night Flight excerpt from the book takes a look at the founding of the band -

in their original early-‘70s incarnation as the acoustic folk unit Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles.

LOS-LOBOS-6-425x294.jpg

 

Fans will recognize most of the players – Cesar Rosas, Louie Pérez, Conrad Lozano, and David Hidalgo.

But only longtime Lobos associates will be able to identify the fifth player -

who takes most of the lead vocals and serves as the MC at the 28-minute-long show - (See You Tube, at end of article.)

recorded at East Los Angeles College in 1975 for the public TV series “La Cultura.”

 

In those days, he was known as Frank Gonzáles -

and he co-founded Los Lobos and served as the group’s original musical director.

His crucial role in the formation of the band has been largely ignored.

This passage from my book looks at the beginnings of Los Lobos in an East L.A. living room.

LOS-LOBOS-3.jpg

One bright summer afternoon in 1973, fate strolled by Cesar Rosas’ front door.

“I was hanging out in my garage,” Rosas says -

“and all of a sudden midday one day I saw this guy walking right in front of my house on the sidewalk.

He was walking around playing the mandolin. He was going to the store. He was passing by. He looked inside the garage.

We looked and kind of waved… I said, ‘What are you up to?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m going to Pomona College.’

I said, ‘I see you play mandolin and all that.’ He was getting into Mexican music, playing traditional music.”

The rotund, mandolin-strumming 20-year-old with a drooping bandito mustache was named Frank González -

and he lived two doors down the street from Rosas.

 

Like the rest of his soon-to-be band mates, González was raised in East L.A.

His father had emigrated from Mexico at the age of 4, returned to his home country at the age of 15 -

and came back to Los Angeles with a young bride.

The last of seven children and known as Frank from boyhood, he grew up in a musical household.

“My father had been a professional singer, a trained singer,” González recalls.

“I have posters him doing some zarzuela [Spanish opera] at theaters in downtown L.A. during the ‘40s. He was a tenor.”

His brothers both played guitar, and his four sisters sang.

He began playing autoharp and harmonica in the first grade, and started formal training on trombone in third grade.

 

After developing an allergy to the metal in his mouthpiece, he took up the upright bass, which he played throughout junior high.

At Garfield High School, he met another budding bassist, Conrad Lozano.

Gonzáles formed his first band, Boojum Snark –

its name drawn from a backwoods spirit mentioned in a blood-brother oath on ‘The Andy Griffith Show’

with another Garfield student, his longtime friend David Hidalgo.

The guitarist notes that even as a youth, years before Rosas saw him playing on the street, Gonzáles favored performing alfresco.

 

“We had met in elementary school,” Hidalgo recalls.

“He lived about five or six blocks away from where I lived.

Around fifth or sixth grade, [I saw him] walking down the street with his guitar or something…

I went over to his pad one day, and he was sitting in his Boy Scout uniform, playing Bob Dylan songs.”

 

Like Hidalgo’s other early bands, Boojum Snark never emerged from the garage.

González graduated from Garfield in 1971 and enrolled in Pomona College in Claremont - 

then something of a hotbed for the Chicano arts, to study music and musicology.

Always eclectic in his tastes, he played country music (he had become facile on the Dobro) -

performed classical works, and worked as a bassist with such avant garde jazz lions as saxophonist David Murray.

But, he says, “Everything that I was doing, it was always everybody else’s [music].”

 

His musical revelation arrived via his classmate and roommate Gustavo Gil, a Colombia-born pianist -

whose father had an extensive collection of Colombian and Mexican folk music.

He became entranced by a folk dance style popular in the country’s northern provinces.

 

“The first time I started getting into a huapango and actually playing it,” González says, “it was like in The Wizard of Oz -

when it goes from black-and-white to color. I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

I was in a whole different world, and it just blew me away. Especially when I realized that I could sing it and I could play it.”

LOS-LOBOS-4.jpg

González’s enthusiasm for Mexican folk styles burgeoned rapidly.

He began acquiring information on the music’s instrumentation from Charles Chase at the Claremont Folk Music Center.

In 1972, González and Gil journeyed to Mexico City and Veracruz.

“That was the first time I saw jarocho music [the regional style of Veracruz] played live.

It really blew me away,” he says. “It was like Mexican bebop, and I loved bebop.”

 

In mid-1973, González says without elaboration, “it was a very, very dark time for me,”  -

so he took a medical leave from Pomona College.

It was at just that point that he encountered Cesar Rosas.

The two young musicians quickly discovered they both had an affinity for Mexican folk music -

and González was surprised by the somewhat younger musician’s knowledge of the repertoire.

 

“I invited him over to the house, and we got to know each other,” Rosas says.

“He was playing the mandolin, and he played me a riff from a song. He said, ‘Do you know this song?’ -

I said, ‘Yeah, I know that song.’ I was a rural Mexican guy — I knew all about all the folk songs.

I said, ‘Yeah, I grew up with that. I know what that song is.’ I sang it to him a little bit. He was slightly impressed.

I said, ‘That’s what I listen to every morning when I get up to go to school, on the radio.’

So we were talking the same language.

 

“It didn’t take too long for us to start talking about music and sharing music.

He was on vacation and I was on vacation. The next day he invited me over for a beer, and I took over my Spanish guitar.

We started jamming together on traditional songs. We were just learning the songs.

Of course I grew up with them, but I really didn’t know how to play them.

Playing that type of music requires a certain type of strum.

It’s the huapango rhythm – it’s the way you strum the guitar for a lot of those old songs.

He kind of knew how to play the rhythm, and he showed me how to play it.

Before you know it, he and I were playing two or three songs together.

There we were, singing and harmonizing and playing guitar, and he was playing the mandolin parts.

We’d make it to the middle of the song, and then it’d fall apart. Then we’d start it again.”

 

Rosas and González began getting together regularly -

in an attempt to teach themselves the fundamentals of the Mexican folk styles.

There was a great seriousness of intent on González’s part.

“I was very active in the Chicano movement,” he says.

“One of the things that struck me as kinda weird was, everybody was [saying] ‘Chicano power’  -

but then they’d go listen to Santana or Tito Puente, and that was being Chicano.

We were surrounded by Mexican music, but we didn’t want to identify with that.

That was [for] the wetbacks, that was not us, right?…There was only two ways we were allowed to identify.

You could play white rock ‘n’ roll, or oldies, stuff like that, East L.A.-type music -

or if you wanted to be [singing in] Spanish, you had to be dressed up in your monkey suit and be a mariachi.

The young kids were being told what to do by a coterie of mainly white guys, telling them how to play Mexican music.

Mariachi music was acceptable, because that was middle class.

But the norteño stuff, that wasn’t cool. The tejano stuff, that was not cool.”

LOS-LOBOS-5.jpg

González and Rosas quickly recruited their mutual friend David Hidalgo and his close buddy Louie Pérez to join them.

With bassist Richard Escalante, the newly christened Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles (“The Wolves of East L.A.”) -

made their debut in late 1973 at a VFW hall in Watts.

In early 1974, Conrad Lozano – then bassist in the popular East Side band Tierra – replaced his pal Escalante in the lineup.

 

By 1975, Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles had attained local renown in their home community -

playing traditional Mexican folk music at parties, college shows, and weddings.

But tensions developed between the hard-drinking taskmaster González and the other members of the group.

After a blowout argument at the band’s rehearsal space in late 1976, he abruptly exited the group -

which decided to continue on as a quartet.

They issued their self-released folk debut LP Just Another Band From East L.A. in early 1978.

LOS-LOBOS-2.jpg

González – who professionally adopted his given name, Francisco — has led a busy musical career in the intervening years.

For a time he was musical director for El Teatro Campesino -

the theater company led by director Luis Valdez (whose 1987 film La Bamba would rocket Los Lobos to international stardom).

A master of the Veracruz harp, González released a beautiful album of solo performances, The Gift (El Regalo), in 2009.

The collection was produced by bassist Harvey Brooks -

noted for his work on Bob Dylan’s ‘60s releases and as a founding member of Mike Bloomfield’s “American music band,” the Electric Flag.

Based in Tucson today, González is a frequent collaborator with Michael Ronstadt, brother of Linda Ronstadt -

who fronts the traditional music band Ronstadt Generations.

He is also collaborating on the autobiography of Mexican jarocho harpist Mario Barradas Murcia.

Editor’s note: Gates of Gold, the first Los Lobos studio album in five years, will be released Sept. 25, 2015 by 429 Records.

LOS-LOBOS-1.jpg

 

About Chris Morris

CHRIS-MORRIS1-425x489.jpg

Quote:

"Chris Morris' critical biography Los Lobos: Dream in Blue was just published by University of Texas Press.

He also recently contributed a chapter to X bassist-vocalist John Doe’s book about L.A. punk, Under the Big Black Sun -

which is scheduled for publication on April 26, 2016"

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Chris Morris quote:  "This little-viewed YouTube clip is the earliest known footage of the group from that era."

(Heads up: Only 28 minutes long. Ends @ credit roll.)

 

 

"Los Lobos - Dream in Blue" - GOOGLE BOOK - online, readable preview (some pages are omitted) :

https://books.google.com/books?id=mDQKCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

51Rrn4SmNVL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Amazon

The song, from which they get the title of the book:

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Lobos

 

#Los Lobos Channel - You Tube  (This channel was generated automatically by YouTube's video discovery system.)

Los Lobos Channel - You Tube (Official Band Channel.) (FWIW - 2012 live (video) version of "Tears of God" on home page.)


Popular Videos - 'Cesar Rosas' - You Tube Playlist

Popular Videos - David Hidalgo - You Tube Playlist

 

 

 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

From Amazon:  "Los Lobos - Live At The Fillmore"

Quote:

It took a mere 30 years for Los Lobos to produce their first DVD, and the legendary East Los Angeles band has done it right with Live at the Fillmore.

Of course, "legendary" is sometimes synonymous with "really good, but not so well known" -

as guitarist Cesar Rosas wryly observes in the brief documentary accompanying this generous show  -

(21 songs, drawn from their entire recording career, in a little less than two hours) -

many acts who once opened for Los Lobos, like Dwight Yoakam, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Melissa Etheridge -

went on to eclipse them in sales and popularity.

 

But that takes nothing away from the considerable power of this performance, which finds the now-seven-piece band rocking with a vengeance.

Longtime drummer Louie Perez plays guitar for the most part, joining Rosas and David Hidalgo in a three-guitar front line, and songs like "The Big Ranch," "I Walk Alone," and the crunching "Charmed"  -

find Los Lobos coming on like a combination of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers -

and many of the artists who once played at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium -

from Cream and Jimi Hendrix to the Grateful Dead and Santana.

Of course, they can play pretty much any other style as well, including Cuban jazz ("Maricela") -

Mexican-cum-zydeco ("How Much Can I Do?") and even mariachi-tinged reggae ("Maria Christina") -

and that's to say nothing of unclassifiable fare like "Kiko and the Lavender Moon," -

still one of the best of Los Lobos's many superb original songs.

Recorded in July 2004, Los Lobos: Live at the Fillmore is a fine representation of one of America's best bands.

As Rosas observes backstage, "We love you, man. Don't ever shave." --Sam Graham
 

A CD of the concert is also available.

51FRJ6CYENL.jpg

 

http://www.amazon.com/Los-Lobos-Live-The-Fillmore/dp/B0006693YC

 

 

 

 

 

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(quote)
 
"The name of Antonio de Torres (1817-1892) is to guitarists what the name of Antonio Stradivari is to violinists.
 
Taken as a whole, the corpus of instruments made by this legendary maker’s hand are today regarded as the foundational basis of the modern guitar.
 
The impact that these instruments made on successive generations of guitar makers is impossible to exaggerate –
 
Still to this day, most or nearly all of Torres’ structural and tonal improvements are still in use by all top contemporary builders."
 
The above excerpt, from this (informative) site:
 
 
Also, IMO - a great read:
 
 
See also?:
 
 
(Obviously, one would want to playback on a great pair of speakers? I mean, it's bad enough that (AFAIK, in my brief search) this particular recording is only on You Tube? - Not even on Vimeo, in the least? 
So yeah, my smartphone (w/ it's 'synthesized' tx/rx paradigm) didn't do it justice.
 
Of course, I was transfixed, when I finally got to hear the richness, and depth, on my system @ home, this afternoon. Yeah, even from a crappy YT.)
 
Just thought I'd share?
 
 
 
 
 
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Playlist index

From this:     NPR Music Field Recordings

Which, came from this:  https://www.youtube.com/user/nprmusic/playlists?view=1&sort=dd

(Which, does include a link to NPR's 'Tiny Desk' Concerts)   Or:  NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts

 

And, in an odd nod? ...  to 'composers of' ... "music with repetitive structures" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gordon_(composer)

As well as (Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, et al?)

 

 

Also, this might be of interest?

Quote:

Published on Feb 25, 2016

Note: If you're on mobile, we strongly recommend opening this video in the YouTube app. 

February 25, 2016 by Bob Boilen

Since we started making Tiny Desk Concerts almost eight years ago, we've had more than 500 artists play the Tiny Desk, our own little makeshift concert venue right in the middle of NPR's offices in DC. From huge stars like Adele to T-Pain to up-and-comers like Car Seat Headrest and actual big bands like Mucca Pazza, all these musicians actually play behind MY desk — but I move out of the way when they set up.

This is one of the things that always surprises people when they visit NPR — that the Tiny Desk isn't a set. So we decided to give everyone a peek behind the scenes on a Monday afternoon earlier this month, when Wilco just happened to be stopping by.

We invited a company called RYOT to bring two 360-degree cameras to our offices and put them right in the front row of the audience. Then we filmed the whole thing, starting before Wilco even set up, before the staff flocked from all over the building to see the band play. Not only can you see the band up close, but if you look around, you'll see everything else that goes into making a Tiny Desk concert. You'll see our brilliant and calm engineer, Josh Rogosin. You'll see our lead videographer and producer of Tiny Desk Concerts, Niki Walker, along with her intern, Kara Frame. Then, of course, there's the crowd — what a lucky bunch. Many of them work here, many are lucky friends of people who work here. You'd probably recognize some of the voices in this radio crowd.

If you've never watched a 360-degree video before, we can help. There's lots to look around and spot – in fact, if you look really carefully, you might be able to find seven of Wilco's album covers around the desk and references to each one that we hid in the crowd. And of course, enjoy the song itself, one of Wilco's unforgettable tunes, "Misunderstood" from the 1996 album Being There. On the left you'll see Mikael Jorgensen playing the melodica, Nels Cline on that resonator guitar, Jeff Tweedy singing and strumming, John Stirratt playing guitar and singing strongly alongside Jeff, Pat Sansone on banjo and glockenspiel, while in the back holding it all together and sometimes tearing it apart is drummer Glenn Kotche.

And when you're all done here, you can watch Wilco play all four of the songs they performed at this Tiny Desk concert. For those of us here at NPR, you can guess how boring the day seemed after this.
 

...

End quote

 

Edit: (fwiw - intended only for those who might not already be aware?)

On Mozilla's Firefox browser v.44.0.2 -

If I place my cursor anywhere on the screen, over the video  -

(A 'hand' appears) -

Or,

On the (greyed) cardinal-direction icon, upper left corner -

And ...

I am able to 'move' the perspective.

AFAIK? - Safari Version 9.0.3 (11601.4.4) does not support 360º? At least mine did not.
Have not tried it on mobile, yet.
  •  

 

For any fans of 360º VR YT's?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuqhhs6NWbgTzMuM09WKDQ

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Published on Mar 2, 2016
Tedeschi Trucks Band perform "Anyhow" from their new album "Let Me Get By" live in their own Swamp Raga Studio.

 

Quote:

Published on Feb 11, 2016
Go behind the scenes as Tedeschi Trucks Band tapes Austin City Limits.   (FYI - The song is the same: "Anyhow." As above.)

 

 

Interview only - no music:

Published on Feb 23, 2016
Susan Tedeschi and husband/co-band leader Derek Trucks talk about the origins of Tedeschi Trucks Band, as well as their recording process.

 

 

 

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Read more here:   http://www.npr.org/2015/02/12/385540871/meet-the-winner-of-our-tiny-desk-concert-contest

and, here: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/02/12/385418281/the-tiny-desk-concert-contest-winner-is


Link to: You Tube - Fantastic Negrito's March 2015 Tiny Desk Concert:
 (Set list:  "Lost In A Crowd" ; "Night Has Turned to Day"; "An Honest Man.")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KhU75RkbYQ

 

 

Quote - excerpt:    (Bold, my emphasis.)

"And The Winner Of The 2016 Tiny Desk Contest Is ..."

by Bob Boilen
Updated March 4, 2016

There were 6,100 entries in this year's Tiny Desk Contest, representing every state in the nation.

We asked you to send us a video of an original song, behind a desk of your choosing.

We didn't care much about the quality of the video or even the sound.

We wanted something singular, a song and a sound that felt original and a performance that felt inspired.

We at NPR Music watched all of those 6,100 entries and in the end our six judges —

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and The Arcs, Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe of Lucius, Son Little, Robin Hilton and I —

found one artist so compelling we're thrilled about this announcement.

Our winner is a haunting fiddler from Duluth, Minn. Her name is Gaelynn Lea.


Holly Laessig said it best: "Hers was the one melody that stayed with me throughout the process. It's captivating and powerful."

Robin Hilton, my cohost on All Songs Considered, said,

"Gaelynn Lea had the most arresting voice and overall sound I heard in this competition."

While judging each entry, I'd listen to the song first, then watch the video -

if I was moved by the music to spend more time with it."

"I was profoundly moved by Lea's song, particularly its serpentine, earworm melody and the tremendous heartache in her poetry."

...

End quote

read more:

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/03/03/468923804/and-the-winner-of-the-2016-tiny-desk-contest-is

 

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Quote:
 
Published on Mar 10, 2016
New Order's Blue Monday was released on 7 March 1983 -

and its cutting-edge electronic groove changed pop music forever.

 

But what would it have sounded like if it had been made 50 years earlier?

 

In a special film, using only instruments available in the 1930s -

from the theremin and musical saw to the harmonium and prepared piano -

the mysterious Orkestra Obsolete present this classic track as you've never heard it before.  

(More information: http://bbc.in/1SC6Atc )

 

More on the Theramin?

IMO, this was an interesting read, (w/ relevant embedded YT playlist):

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/22/invisible-instrument-theremin

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Quote:
 
Published on Mar 14, 2016

While I sat on the floor watching Graham Nash play The Hollies' 1966 hit "Bus Stop," I caught a glimpse of the same transistor radio I had as a kid when that song filled the AM radio airwaves. It was surreal and beautiful.

Nash has a voice that resonates and cuts to the core.

When he played the title track from his forthcoming solo album This Path Tonight, I was moved by the clarity and quality of his tone.

His lucid songwriting displays the deep introspection that comes with age; he's 74 and as insightful as ever.

Along with guitarist Shane Fontayne, Nash played music that felt memorable, touching and as thoughtful as anything he made during his time with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

This Path Tonight is available now:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thi...
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/This-Path-Tonig...

Set List:
"Bus Stop"
"Myself At Last"
"This Path Tonight"

Credits:
Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Published on Jan 23, 2016

There's been an outpouring of grief from the music world since the New Year as multiple legends have left us, including Natalie Cole, Lenny of Motorhead Fame, David Bowie, and The Eagles' Glenn Frey, who died just a week later. Their music may be timeless, but age is catching up to a whole generation of classic rockers. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash spoke to "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Anthony Mason about the loss of two contemporaries and his thoughts on his own mortality.

 

 

 
 
Published on Jan 31, 2014 

U.S. Library of Congress:

Legendary musician Graham Nash, founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies, speaks about his candid and riveting new autobiography "Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life."

(72 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7MEP92Hl2g

 

YT channel index page: " #Graham Nash " - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBi2ykOeHwkvao3HwaKCrA

YT channel index page: " #CSN "  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25j4DwEaTkGHCUpQo2mZPQ

 

More NPR 'Tiny Desk Concerts" - YT Video Index page - Listed in grid thumbnail view, w/ 'most recent' first:

(As of today's post ... Esperanza Spalding, Gaelynn Lea, among the latest uploads)

https://www.youtube.com/user/nprmusic/videos

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  • 2 weeks later...
Published on Mar 21, 2016

At the world famous Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City, Monday nights have meant big band music for 50 years -

stretching back to the days of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis.

For the jazz impresarios there today, playing in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is more than just a gig --

it’s being part of a tradition. Jeffrey Brown reports.

 

 

Published on Feb 20, 2016

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra - All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard
Release Date: 2/19/16
Available as Deluxe 2-CD Set

Available at Resonance Records: http://bit.ly/1NvT7vl
Download on iTunes: http://apple.co/1PKRK1L

Amazon  (listen to :30 samples)

ALL MY YESTERDAYS is the first official release of the opening night recordings of the mighty Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra -

at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC on February 7, 1966 endorsed by the estates of Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and the Village Vanguard.

This deluxe 2-CD set also includes recordings from March 21, 1966, many of which have never been released before (although some of the recordings were unofficially exploited via a limited bootleg in 2000), and comes with an expansive 92-page book providing rare, previously unpublished photos, historic essays, interviews and memoirs.

Contributors include executive producer George Klabin who recorded the original tapes, producer Zev Feldman, associate producer Chris Smith (author of The View from the Back of the Band: The Life and Music of Mel Lewis), longtime Vanguard Jazz Orchestra arranger and pianist Jim McNeely, and trombonist/educator John Mosca.

All of the living musicians who played on these recordings contributed to the notes, recounting their personal experiences of the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra. Included are accounts from saxophonists Jerry Dodgion, Eddie Daniels and Marv "Doc" Holladay, trumpeter Jimmy Owens, trombonists Garnett Brown and Tom McIntosh, along with bassist Richard Davis.

The pages display rare photos by Chuck Stewart, Raymond Ross, Ray Avery and Jan Persson.

The legendary opening night performance on February 7, 1966 launched a tradition of successive Monday night appearances by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra that lasted twelve years and continues to this day through the dedication of the band's musical heir, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. This combined 50-year residency at the Village Vanguard will be celebrated by the release of this album, and will hopefully live on another 50 years!

"The music sounds marvelous, supercharged with jocular flair and soulful fire." - Nate Chinen / New York Times

 

 

You Tube: "Resonance Records" (A Non-Profit Jazz Label With a Mission. Devoted to Preserving Jazz and Discovering the Rising Stars of Tomorrow.)

 

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