Music Archives - Page 60 of 238

Lead Belly: “The Hindenburg Disaster”

Hindenburg Lead Belly

On May 6, 1937, the German passenger airship Hindenburg caught fire while it attempted to dock at a naval station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-five of the 97 people on board the ship died, along with one worker on the ground.

Herbert Morrison’s Report

Many people would listen to Herbert Morrison‘s recorded reports on the radio. The horrible crash — along with Morrison’s cry of “Oh, the humanity!” — helped end public confidence in the use of airships as a means of travel.

This video puts together Morrson’s reporting with some separate color footage from the scene.

Lead Belly’s “The Hindenburg Disaster”

In the years before television, songwriter often responded quickly to write songs about a major disaster. And Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, used his songwriting skills to tell the story of the Hindenburg in “The Hindenburg Disaster.”

Lead Belly recorded his song for the Library of Congress on June 22, 1937. Check out his version of the story in “The Hindenburg Disaster.”

“The Hindenburg Disaster” appears on Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection.

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When Cotton Gets Rotten

You and Me and Cisco Know

Burl Ives & Johnny Cash

How a Bull Moose, a Bear, and a Beetle Gave Elvis a Hit Song

Goodnight Irene

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Matthew Ryan: “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator”

Matthew Ryan Hustle Matthew Ryan, one of our favorite artists, is releasing a new album called Hustle Up Starlings. And a new video features the album’s first single, “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator.”

Ryan tells Diffuser that the songs are about “hope and perseverance.” The songs try to capture the spirit of our national moment of being in “a world that feels like it might catch fire with all its uncertainty and friction, the ugly politics and rising impulses.”

Popdust calls the 10-track album Ryan’s “most poetic, gnawing and adventurous album of this career.” And Ryan writes of the album: “We invested all the heart, smarts and honest cinema we were capable of. I feel strongly these songs will become great companions.”

To highlight the “perseverance” aspect of “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator,” Ryan chose to have young women projecting his voice in the video. It’s a powerful statement in “our post-Trump world.” But it also is a lot of fun.

Check out “(I Just Died) Like an Aviator,” where the singer pleads, “Don’t die, don’t disappear/ I swear to God we need you/ here.”

Ryan’s last full-length album was 2014’s Boxers, although he released an 8-track instrumental digital album, Current Events, in Fall 2016. Hustle Up Starlings, which was produced by The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon, hits the Internet and stores on May 12, 2017.

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

Matthew Ryan’s “Hustle Up Starlings” (Review)

The Pines at Night (Matthew Ryan) Releases Full Album,”A Year of Novembers”

A “Song for a Hard Year” from The Pines at Night

“Life is Beautiful” With Matthew Ryan

There Will Be Another Christmas

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Pete Seeger: Down By the Riverside

Seeger McGhee Terry

The great Pete Seeger was born in Manhattan on May 3, 1919. People have used a number of terms to describe the late Seeger, “folk singer,” “songwriter,” “Civil Rights activist,” “environmentalist,” “communist,” “defender of free speech,” etc. But whenever he had his banjo and an audience, he was simply wonderful.

In this video, he plays “Down By the Riverside,” a spiritual that goes back to before the Civil War. During the Vietnam War era, the song often appeared at anti-war rallies because of its refrain, “Ain’t gonna study war no more.”

Here, Seeger plays “Down by the Riverside” with two other legends, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. The two blues and folk musicians achieved some fame playing together. And Terry, who passed away in 1986, appeared in some films (The Color Purple (1985), Steve Martin’s The Jerk (1979)). McGhee, who passed away in 1996, similarly appeared in some movies and TV shows (The Jerk (1979), Angel Heart (1987)).

Check out Seeger, Terry, and McGhee singing “Down By the Riverside.”

The video is taken from a segment of Seeger’s television show Rainbow Quest, which ran on a UHF New York City channel from 1965-1966. You may watch the entire episode with Terry and McGhee below.

What is your favorite Pete Seeger song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Trini Lopez: Hammerin’ Out Danger

Pete Seeger: “Bring Them Home”

Burl Ives & Johnny Cash

The Sounding Joy: A Refreshing Timeless Christmas Album

Billy Grammer and Buddy Holly’s Opening Song, “Gotta Travel On”

Mississippi John Hurt: “Lonesome Valley”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Willie Nelson Is “Still Not Dead”

Willie Nelson God's Problem

Willie Nelson celebrates his birthday with the release of a new album, God’s Problem Child. One of the new tracks on the album is “Still Not Dead.”

Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas on April 29, 1933 (although his birth certificate lists April 30 as his birth date). Now in his 80’s, Nelson’s voice, phrasing, and guitar playing still combine for some wonderful songs.

God’s Problem Child includes songs like “He Won’t Ever Be Gone,” a tribute to Merle Haggard written by Gary Nicholson. The first single, “Still Not Dead,” is a fun laugh at mortality by a man often rumored to be dead. Below is the official video for “Still Not Dead.”

The album is full of solid songs that sound like classic Willie. NPR describes the new album as Willie Nelson reflecting “on this season of his life with a mischievousness and equanimity that already feels familiar coming from him.” God’s Problem Child hits stores and the Internet on April 28, 2017.

What is your favorite Willie Nelson song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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Happy Birthday Willie Nelson, A Hero of This Country

80 Years of Willie: From Opry Singer to Outlaw to Wizard

Willie Nelson & Ray Charles: Who are the “Seven Spanish Angels”?

Graceland: Happy Birthday Willie Nelson!

When is Mickey Newbury’s “33rd of August”?

That Time Willie Nelson Got a Little Emotional Singing with Leon Russell and Ray Charles

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

John Mellencamp’s “Ain’t Even Done With the Night”

I remember going to a John Mellencamp concert back in the late 1980s, when he already had a long catalog of classic songs. As the opening notes of “Ain’t Even Done With the Night” began that night, it reminded me that Mellencamp had hit songs even before “Jack & Diane” swamped the radio airwaves.

“Ain’t Even Done with the Night” appeared on the 1980 album Nothin Matters & What If It Did. Back then, we knew the singer-songwriter as “John Cougar.”

Mellencamp has said some disparaging things about the creation of some of his early albums. But when I first heard him play this song live in the 1980s, he seemed to have a special fondness for this song, one of first hits.

He told a story about how he wrote the song for a girl he knew in high school. Then, when he went back to his high school reunion, he took her to his car to play the song for her. But his old flame continued to talk through the song, so he never got to tell her how the song was for her.

I do not know if his story about the song is true, and I cannot find any verification on the Internet. But I always thing of that story when I hear “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.”

It is one of those songs that seem like they have been around forever. And “Ain’t Even Done” even seems like it is from another era than most of Mellencamp’s other iconic songs, like “Pink Houses.”

Another thing that seems from a different era is this video of “John Cougar” giving a live television performance of “Ain’t Even Done With the Night.” From his band members dancing in pink tuxes, Mellencamp’s own awkward dancing, and the finale that pays homage to James Brown, this video should leave you with a smile.

Were we ever this young?