Although born and raised in the United States, Lazer Lloyd moved to Israel in 1994 as a young man to continue his music career. Having played blues and rock, he became intrigued by similarities between the music he played and traditional Jewish music. Lloyd currently records music in a range of styles, including Americana, and AllMusic refers to him as “one of the best-known blues musicians in Israel.” Whatever you call it, the singer-songwriter makes great music.
Having played and recorded with several bands, Lazer Lloyd now records as a solo artist. One of my favorite tracks off his 2017 album Freedom’s Child is “Been Tryin’.”
Lloyd has a deep, soulful voice. In the video below, with just him and a guitar, the ache in the lyrics comes through.
Lloyd explains about the song, “There are no quick fixes not with our bodies nor our soul. That which comes in a flash can leave just as quickly. I don’t remember what I did wrong before writing this song. Maybe best to let it go.”
“Been Tryin” below was recorded in Kernersville, NC at JBS Productions.
Check out Lazer Lloyd’s latest release, a live album called Lazer Lloyd in the Zone. The album features some wonderful blues and rock songs, as well as powerful live covers of classics such as “All Along the Watchtower,” “Redemption Song,” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” The album released on Bandcamp on December 31, 2019, with a worldwide streaming release on January 20, 2020. Check it out.
Steve Earle’s 1988 Copperhead Road album ends very differently than it begins. The album starts with the hard rock title track about a Vietnam veteran who — similar to his bootlegging father and grandfather — ends up growing illegal drugs. The album ends, by contrast, with a Christmas song, “Nothing But a Child.”
Earle originally wrote “Nothing But a Child” for the Oak Ridge Boys, which explains why it may sound a little out of place on the album. He knew the country group were putting out an album and tried writing a Christmas song for them.
With that deadline, Earle composed “Nothing But a Child” in July. Trying to find the Christmas spirit during the summer, he thought of the connection between the baby of the Christmas story and his own child.
After his song was rejected for the Oak Ridge Boys, Earle was putting the finishing touches on Copperhead Road. So, he decided to add this new song to his album. He put together a group to record it, and also called in Maria McKee (formerly of Lone Justice), who was in Nashville to record with U2. And, on a day that was “hot as Hell,” according to Earle, they recorded “Nothing But a Child.”
“Nothing But a Child” does begin with the Christmas scene of the Wise Men following a star. But coming upon the baby Jesus Christ, “They scarce believed their eyes, they’d come so many miles / And this miracle they prized was nothing but a child.”
From there, one may see how the song’s inspiration comes more from Steve Earle’s fatherhood than from any religious sentiment. He laments how “nothing but a child” can guide a weary world and allow all of us to recall being children ourselves again. There is something about remembering how we saw life as children that may change one’s perspective on what is important to us today.
So, “Nothing But a Child” is really a song about the faith to get through another day with hope in our hearts. It is a Christmas song the way Christmas can be celebrated in various ways by people of different religions — or no religion. And in doing so, finding something common and affirming in the traditions connected to the image of a baby in a manger thousands of years ago.
Perhaps the non-Christmas aspect of song partly about Jesus’s birth is part of the reason that none of the covers of the song approach the quality of performances by Earle, who has battled his own demons and started over more than once in his life. People who have covered the song include Kathy Mattea (on her 1993 Christmas album Good News), Robin & Linda Williams (also on a Christmas album), The Trail Band (in a rendition evocative of Earle’s versions), and various performances in churches (by congregations and choirs and solo performers). Yet, treating “Nothing But a Child” as a Christmas or religious song dilutes its universal message.
Earle’s song has always touched me in the way it connects us through our hopes. This connection makes the song fit better on an album with troubled characters with broken hearts rather than on an album with bells, Santas, and sleighs. And for me, in a year of trials that included losing two of my best friends, it reminds me of how I can still be hopeful in the upcoming year where my wonderful wife and I will soon be joined by another soul.
May you discover hope this season, seeking awe in whatever form, finding another chance allowed. Merry Christmas.
What is your favorite Christmas song that is not really a Christmas song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Childhood friends Evan Westfall and Taylor Meier began playing coffee houses around Athens, Ohio in 2013. Out of their friendship and talent, they formed CAAMP with bass player Matt Vinson. One of the highlights from the band’s third album By and By, which was released in 2019, is “Peach Fuzz.”
“Peach Fuzz” has a laid-back groove, telling about young lovers hanging out. The band has a wonderful sound with strong acoustic guitars, nodding at times to alternative bands like Wilco. Westfall’s banjo and the group’s harmonies (and Meier’s smoky lead singing) add a dash of Mumford & Sons while also mixing in some sunny California and Midwestern folk-rock sounds.
The song “Peach Fuzz” begins:
I was in the corner, Drinking from the punch; Yeah you were in the kitchen, Cuttin’ up a rug; No need to complicate it, I had fallen in love With you, so underrated, Something fillin’ up my lungs.
You may here the official release of “Peach Fuzz” here. Or check out below a live performance, featuring a guitar-jam finale, of CAAMP in Cecil, Denmark in May 2019.
An upcoming benefit album Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1 created through Artists for Peace and Justice celebrates the work of artists in Haiti. The first video from the album for “Love is Love” features Jackson Browne, Paul Beaubrun, Jonathan Russell, and Jonathan Wilson.
The album is the work of Beaubrun, Browne, Russell, Wilson, Habib Koité, Jenny Lewis, Raúl Rodríguez, and members of the Haitian roots band Lakou Mizik. The Artists for Peace and Justice website explains, “Hailing from four different countries, the album interweaves North American Indie Rock with beats and percussion of Haitian Vodou, Spanish and Malian guitar, Flamenco Tres, and includes songs in English, Creole, Khassonké, Manding and Spanish. “
Jackson Browne wrote the song “Love is Love” with David Belle. Browne explained, “‘Love Is Love’ contains some of my immediate impressions of Haiti, but especially the spirit I saw there in the faces of families, children, and lovers, as they take on the challenges of rebuilding their country in the face of multiple disasters.” Check out “Love is Love” below.
Contributing artists recorded the album at the Artists Institute on the island’s southern coast in Jacmel. Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1 will be released on January 31, 2020 from Artists for Peace and Justice via Arts Music. Proceeds from sales will benefit Artists For Peace And Justice and the Artists Institute of Jacmel, Haiti.
What do you think of “Love is Love”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Marty Brown, who earlier this year released the album American Highway, has released a new song called “It’s a God Thing” and a video to go with it. As for now, Brown plans for this video to be his final official music video.
Brown, who has made around twenty music videos during his career, explains that he is not retiring from music. He is still writing and performing. But he feels so strongly about “It’s a God Thing” and its video that he would like it to be his final video. As he explains on Facebook, he “just wants to go out on top with his new song.” He also reports that he has worked harder on this video than he has for any other video.
The song is a beautiful statement of faith. So it is easy to see how it has significant meaning for Brown, who chose to do a video for this new song instead of for one of the other songs on his recent outstanding album American Highway.
Brown co-wrote “It’s a God Thing” with Keith Stegall and Brian Maher. The video, which also features Brown’s wife Shellie Brown and a photo of his mother, was filmed around Franklin, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, and Owensboro, Kentucky.
We are glad that Brown is not retiring from recording music, but we also hope that at some point he reconsiders making more videos. For now, though, check out “It’s a God Thing.”
