Category: Music

They Placed a Wreath Upon His Door: George Jones RIP

George Jones Collection George Jones, one of the greatest country singers, and the owner of one of the best voices in any genre, passed away today. The Possum was 81.

You may find more detailed accounts of his life in the obituaries, but each one will mention “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the great song written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putnam and recorded by Jones in 1980 not long after his divorce from Tammy Wynette disintegrated into cocaine use and added to the legend of “No Show Jones.” Many call the song, which is about a man who never loses his desire for a lost love, the greatest country song of all time. It also has one of the best twist endings of any song. And the brokenhearted have probably played “He Stops Loving Her Today” on more honky tonk jukeboxes than any other song. Here’s a live performance on The Ronnie Prophet Show in July 1980.

While any discussion of Jones will begin and end with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Jones had other hits and other great songs like “The Race is On,” “White Lightning,” and “A Good Year for the Roses.” As the hits stopped in later years he remained a respected country music living legend. In 1999 he had some success with an album I love, Cold Hard Truth. The album included the wonderful song “Choices,” which, like “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” seemed to fit Jones like a glove:

“I was tempted, by an early age I found,
I liked drinkin’, oh, and I never turned it down;
There were loved ones but I turned them all away;
Now I’m living and dying with the choices I’ve made.”

When Jones was supposed to perform “Choices” at the 1999 Country Music Association Awards show, the producers asked him to omit verses from the song, apparently so they could focus on younger artists. Jones stood up for what was right and refused to cut the song and boycotted the show. But Jones was so respected that Alan Jackson cut his own performance of “Pop a Top” short to sing Jones’s song, a tribute that yielded a standing ovation.

Below is Jones’s version of “Choices,” added to a video played during George Jones’s 2013 Farewell Tour. It is a perfect way to say goodbye to the man. RIP.

What is your second-favorite George Jones song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Steve Earle Performs “Invisible” on David Letterman and Announces Box Set

    I have been listening to Steve Earle’s new CD, The Low Highway, and enjoying it. I will probably have more to say about it after some more listens, but in the meantime, check out this video. Earlier this week, Steve Earle was on the Late Show With David Letterman, where he performed his new song about the homeless, “Invisible.”

    According to Rolling Stone, that is Chris Masterson playing the pedal steel and Eleanor Masterson playing the violin.

    Steve Earle Box Set In other Steve Earle news, Earle and Shout! Factory announced that on June 25 they will release a box set entitled, Steve Earle: The Warner Bros. Years. The box set will feature his three great post-prison albums from the 1990s, Train a Comin’, I Feel Alright, and El Corazón. The package will also include a fourth CD of an unreleased concert album Live at the Polk Theater from 1995. The Nashville concert was his first after being released from jail. Additionally, the box set will contain a DVD of a 1996 concert at the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Tennessee, To Hell and Back.

    American Songwriter has the track listings and Billboard has the audio of a live version of “Devil’s Right Hand” from the new set. Because I already have the three previously released albums (and they are among my favorite CDs of all time, I hope they also release the additional material separately.

    What is your favorite Steve Earle song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Ella Fitzgerald: A-Tisket A-Tasket

    On April 25, 1917, Ella Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia. The great jazz singer eventually became known as “The First Lady of Song” and “The First Lady of Jazz.”

    Pure Ella Unlike many other great jazz singers of her era, Fitzgerald is probably remembered for her upbeat optimistic songs instead of sad jazz ballads, although she did those songs justice too. But her childhood was anything but happy.

    After moving to Yonkers, New York with her her mother, Fitzgerald’s mother passed away.  Thus, the young girl found herself an orphan at the age of fifteen. After running away from an abusive stepfather, Fitzgerald lived in a variety of places, including an orphanage, a reformatory, and on the streets.

    But Fitzgerald pursued her dream.  She found some success performing at an amateur night at The Apollo Theater in Harlem and later as a regular singer at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom with Chick Webb‘s Orchestra (later renamed “Ella and her Famous Orchestra” after Webb’s death). But it was a nursery rhyme that gave Fitzgerald her first huge hit.

    A-Tisket, A Tasket

    Fitzgerald, along with Van Alexander, took a nursery rhyme about a little yellow basket and she recorded it as a catchy popular song in 1938. Her version of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” became a huge hit. If you have never heard her swinging original version, you are in for a treat. Check it out.

    Fitzgerald performed “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” in her first big screen appearance in Abbott and Costello’s Ride ‘Em Cowboy, a 1942 comedy film.   She played a ranch employee, singing the song for other employees on a bus.  A complete high-quality clip is not available, but you may see a clip — covered with some narration — on YouTube.

    Later Years

    For Fitzgerald’s take on a more modern song, check out her performance of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” She performs at the Hollywood Palace in February 1968, with an introduction by Jimmy Durante. Fitzgerald would later perform the song at the 1969 Montreux Festival.

    In Fitzgerald’s later years, she suffered a number of health problems. On June 15, 1996, Fitzgerald passed away in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 79.

    As for the yellow basket, there was a happy ending. Fitzgerald later recorded a sequel to “A-Tisket, A Tasket” with Chick Webb called “I Found My Yellow Basket.”



    What is your favorite Ella Fitzgerald performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    RIP Richie Havens

    Richie Havens I just heard on the radio station WFUV that Richie Havens passed away today of a heart attack at the age of 72. Chimesfreedom previously wrote about Havens’s landmark opening performance at Woodstock when he sang “Freedom (Motherless Child).” Below is a 1971 performance of “Here Comes the Sun.”

    Last year, Havens had announced that he was stopping touring because of health concerns. At the moment, there is not much information about his passing on the Internet, but The Roots Agency, his agent, has a statement on their webpage, where they note, “Havens used his music to convey passionate messages of brotherhood and personal freedom.” He also was one of the great interpreters of great songs. For example, in addition to his Beatles interpretation above, below he covers two other great songwriters singing Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey” and Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman.”

    Nobody will ever have a voice like Richie Havens. RIP.

    What is your favorite Richie Havens song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Happy Earth Day: The Earth Rolls On

    Billy Joe Shaver The Earth Rolls On Happy Earth Day, which started in 1970 as a day to spread education about and support for our environment. Today, the day is celebrated around the world, reminding us of our common interest in the earth and the environment.

    During the same month as Earth Day in 2001, Shaver released the album, The Earth Rolls On (2001). On first look, the album has nothing to do with Earth Day. Shaver was a collaboration between country legend Billy Joe Shaver and his son Eddy Shaver, who played some mean guitar. My favorite song on the album is the wonderful title track that closes the album, “The Earth Rolls On,” where Billy Joe Shaver sings “The earth rolls on/Even though you’re gone/The earth rolls on, and on, and on. . . .” So the song is really about loss.

    The song carries a heavy weight for Billy Joe Shaver. He wrote the song about losing his wife Brenda, who passed away from a lenghty illness in 1999 (Shaver had divorced her twice but married her three times). His son Eddy, who plays guitar on the album, passed away suddenly from an accidental drug overdose in December 2000. Although that is Eddy’s guitar wailing at the end of “The Earth Rolls On,” one can almost hear in that incredible solo that he foresaw the pain his father felt not only of Brenda’s death but what a father would feel in losing his son.

    So, in addition to the title, “The Earth Rolls On” is a perfect song for Earth Day. It is about how fragile life is and how we have to cherish and take care of what we have while we have it because everything is temporary. May you celebrate the earth and your loved ones today and every day this year.

    What is your favorite song about the earth? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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