Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson Put Johnny Cash’s Poetry to Music

Johnny Cash PoemsKris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson join forces to pay tribute to their late friend and former collaborator Johnny Cash.  In “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone,” Kristofferson and Nelson take a final poem written by Johnny Cash and put it to music.

Cash’s son John Carter Cash explained to Rolling Stone that after his father died in 2003, they found a folder of letters and poems.  Johnny Cash wrote the letters and poems in his old age after the death of his wife June Carter Cash.

Among the sad poems was one called “Forever.”  The poem is about life going on and recognizing that “the trees that I planted are still young.”  Kristofferson and Nelson took the poem to create “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone.”

The track features Kristofferson’s reading of the poem and Nelson’s guitar.  In addition, they added an instrumental track from Cash’s 1958 song “I Still Miss Someone.”

The video below shows Kristofferson and Nelson on the track.  And it also includes them talking about their deceased friend and former Highwayman colleague.  Check it out.

“Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone” is the lead track on the upcoming album Johnny Cash: Forever Words. The album features Cash’s poetry interpreted musically by friends, family, and other artists, such as John Mellencamp, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Chris Cornell, Alison Krauss, Carlene Carter, The Jayhawks, and Brad Paisley.

Forever Words hits stores and the Internet on April 6, 2018. An accompanying book, Forever Words: The Unknown Poems, has also been released.


Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies (Book Review)

    Ann Hornaday Ann Hornaday, who is chief film critic at the Washington Post, recently wrote a book to help viewers understand what they are seeing on the big screen and how to think about what they see.  Her book, Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies (2017), is like a crash college course on appreciating film.

    Hornaday explains in the introduction that the book “Is designed to guide readers through a medium that, as it morphs into an ever more constant presence in our lives, has called upon everyone to be their own most trusted film critics.”

    The book chapters break up various aspects of movies, starting with The Screenplay and Acting all the way through Cinematography, Editing, and Directing.  Each chapter tells the viewer what to watch for to appreciate the good and bad qualities of certain movies.

    Talking Pictures likely will not radically change your understanding of movies.  But Hornaday is not trying to provide the definitive treatise on movie-making.  Instead, Talking Pictures is an easy and enjoyable trip through various aspects of watching and appreciating movies.

    Hornaday writes in an easy-to-understand manner.  One of the best parts of the book is her use of actual movies to illustrate her points.  Most of the films will be familiar to the average movie fan, so the reader will easily understand the examples.  Hornaday also mentions some movies you might not have seen, which will peak your curiosity to seek out those films.  Similarly, at the end of each chapter, Hornaday provides a list of recommended films related to the chapter’s topic.

    If you love movies and want to learn more about how to appreciate and how to talk about film like a movie critic, check out Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies.

    What is your favorite book about film?  Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Steve Earle Looks Back on “Copperhead Road”

    Steve Earle Anniversary Steve Earle and the Dukes are celebrating the anniversary of the release of the album Copperhead Road, including a 30th Anniversary Tour.  Uni Records released Earle’s third album on October 17, 1988.

    Steve Earle made a conscious effort with the album to reach rock radio.  And the songs rocked harder than Earle’s previous two excellent albums, Guitar Town (Remastered)(Bonus Track) (1985) and Exit O (1987).

    You can hear Earle making a name for himself from the first chords on the opening and title track.  “Copperhead Road” tells the story of a Vietnam vet returning home to grow marijuana.

    Copperhead Road also featured one of the greatest songs ever written about guns, “The Devil’s Right Hand,” which was covered by Waylon Jennings.

    George Stroumboulopoulos of The Strombo Show from CBC Radio 2 recently talked to Earle about the album.  Check out the insightful interview where Earle recounts making the album and the music’s legacy.

    What is your favorite song on Copperhead Road? It is hard for me to name one song, but I do love “Even When I’m Blue.” Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    New Jimi Hendrix Album (and Video): “Both Sides of the Sky”

    Jimi Hendrix Posthumous

    A new Jimi Hendrix album, Both Sides of the Sky, features unreleased studio recordings that Hendrix made from 1968 to 1970.  A new music video for “Lover Man” supports the album from Hendrix.

    Producer and engineer Eddie Kramer worked on the album’s release.  Kramer worked as recording engineer on every Hendrix album released during the lifetime of the guitar great who died in 1970 when he was 27.

    Songs on Both Sides of the Sky include a number of great musicians, with some songs supported by artists such as Johnny Winters, Stephen Stills, and original Jimi Hendrix Experience members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.  Band of Gypsys, Hendrix’s group with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox, also appears on several of the songs.

    Both Sides of the Sky completes a trilogy of recent releases from Hendrix’s vaults.  The series also included Valleys Of Neptune (2010) and People, Hell & Angels (2013).

    “Lover Man”

    One of the previously unreleased songs on the album is “Lover Man.” John Vondracek directed the video, which features archival footage of Hendrix.

    Paste magazine notes that Hendrix apparently included a riff from the Batman television series at around the 1:43 mark in “Lover Man.”  Check it out.

    Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings released Both Sides Of The Sky on March 9, 2018.

    What is your favorite posthumous Jimi Hendrix release? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Matthew Ryan’s “Starlings Unadorned” Exposes a New Dimension to “Hustle Up Starlings”

    Starlings Unadorned

    Matthew Ryan has released Starlings Unadorned, a collection of “cinematic acoustic” versions of some of the songs on 2017’s Hustle Up Starlings.  The new album also features some unreleased songs and demos.  Hustle Up Starlings shows a different side of the full-band versions of the exciting original album.

    Ryan explains on Bandcamp that Starlings Unadorned came out of a process:  “Often after you finish a new album, you have to sit down and re-learn the songs on your acoustic because of all the flourishes and skin a band brings to them in the studio.”  Then, he added some other unreleased songs that seemed to fit well with the new album.

    We previously posted the rocking version of the song “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator” from Hustle Up Starlings.  That video featured young women portraying Ryan and his band.  Starlings Unadorned includes a new version of the song.

    Ryan is promoting the “new” version of the song with with a new video.  Like the song’s earlier video, the new one also includes Chloe Barczak (“vocals”) and Carina Begley (“guitar”).

    Gorman Bechard, who directed the video for the original version of “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator, directed the new video for the acoustic version.  Once he heard this acoustic version that Ryan was releasing on Starlings Unadorned, he contacted Ryan and asked to make a new video. Check it out.

    Ryan explained on Facebook how the young women in the videos for the song moved him in an unexpected way, connecting the perspective of youth to the troubles of the world today.  “[T]here was this heart in [the video], this depth of story that I (as a person now more experienced by time and the beautiful and horrible things our world participates in, or observes, or does, or hopes to salve) was confronted with.”

    Below is the original version of “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator.” While I love this original version, the softer acoustic version adds another dimension to the song, revealing additional wonderful layers.

    As I listen to the new release, enjoying these new recordings, I find that one of the great things about Starlings Unadorned is that it opens another window on Hustle Up Starlings.

    Starlings Unadorned is available through Bandcamp.  Sales of the new album will help support Ryan’s summer tour with The Gaslight Anthem.  Our original review of2017’s Hustle Up Starlings is here.

    What do you think of the acoustic version of “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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