Tag: alt-country

Lydia Loveless: “Heaven”

Heaven

Today’s song of the day is Lydia Loveless’s “Heaven.”  Sometimes classified as alt-country, the Ohio-born young singer-songwriter has been releasing great music since 2010 that crosses borders around country, rock, and punk rock.

I detect some Lone Justice-era Maria McKee with a little Natalie Merchant in Loveless’s music. But either way, as AllMusic notes, “At her best, she’s quite simply as good and as brave a singer and songwriter as anyone working today.”

Loveless’s most recent album is Real, released in August 2016.  Currently, Blend is featuring a remix contest for listeners to remix Loveless’s song “Heaven” from Real.  For more information on the contest, head over to Blend’s website.

Even if you are not up for the remixing challenge, though, you should listen to the heartbreaking lyrics accompanied by Loveless’s wonderful voice on “Heaven.”  Below,  she performs the song acoustically live at White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Arkansas.

I thought I would be okay,
But everything just happens;
Everything is an accident, man;
No one goes to heaven,
No one goes to heaven.

For more on Loveless, check out the documentary by filmmaker Gorman Bechard called Who is Lydia Loveless? The movie was released in April 2016.

What is your favorite Lydia Loveless song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Uncle Tupelo’s Last Concert on May 1, 1994
  • Who is Ryan Adams?

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Uncle Tupelo’s Last Concert on May 1, 1994

    Tupelo Final Show The great alt-country band Uncle Tupelo played its last concert on May 1, 1994, at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Missouri. Fortunately, the concert is now available on YouTube in high quality video.

    By the time of this show, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar were already not getting along well. Soon after the performance, they would both go on to create other bands, with Farrar founding Son Volt and Tweedy forming Wilco.

    But on that night in May 1994, there was one last grasp at combined harmony and greatness. In the video below, Tweedy and Farrar trade off on the lead vocals, with drummer Mike Heidorn joining the band on the final song of the set, “Looking for a Way Out,” and also singing on the encore with Brian Henneman and the Bottle Rockets on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps.”

    So, take some time to travel back to 1994 when one of the great bands was still together. The final words of the show: “That’s got to be it.” Check it out.

    From YouTube, the songs at this performance are: “No Depression”/ “Chickamauga”/ “Watch Me Fall”/ “Grindstone”/ “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down”/ “Fifteen Keys”/ “Long Cut”/ “Anodyne”/ “New Madrid”/ “Slate”/ “Atomic Power”/ “Postcard”/ “Gun”/ “High Water”/ “Acuff-Rose”/ “True to Life”/ “We’ve Been Had”/ “Give Back the Key To My Heart”/ “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”/ “Whiskey Bottle”/ “Truck Drivin’ Man”/ “Looking for a Way Out” (w/ Mike Heidorn)/ “Gimme Three Steps” (w/ Heidorn and the Bottle Rockets, Brian Henneman vocals).

    What is your favorite Uncle Tupelo song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Son Volt Goes to Bakersfield on “Honky Tonk”
  • Anniversary of Uncle Tupelo’s “March 16-20, 1992”
  • New Track from Jeff Tweedy: “I’ll Sing It”
  • New Track from Son Volt: “Devil May Care”
  • Son Volt: “Back Against the Wall”
  • Catching an All-Night Station: Son Volt Re-Issuing “Trace”

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Who is Ryan Adams?

    Ryan Adams HeartbreakerThis week on American Idol, Chimesfreedom was impressed that a contestant covered a Ryan Adams song, “Come Pick Me Up.” The contestant, Paul McDonald, however recognized that some of America may not know the artist so he clarified that it was “Ryan” Adams and not “Bryan” Adams, so they should not expect “Summer of ’69.” His clarification did not help one of the judges, as Jennifer Lopez mentioned she had never heard of Ryan Adams.

    McDonald has an interesting voice and style, and he has potential to do well on the show. He seems to have a decent taste in music, including his choice to cover Ryan Adams, and I hope that his choice to wear a Nudie Suit on one show indicates we may have a Gram Parsons cover in the future. But his cheery performance of “Come Pick Me Up” sort of sucked out the anger from the original version of the kiss-off song, even accepting that some of the words had to be edited out for the show (with “screw all my friends” becoming “use all my friends”). If you have never heard the excellent original version of “Come Pick Me Up” by Ryan Adams, check it out.

    Ryan Adams started out performing with the alt-country band Whiskeytown, which released three outstanding albums between 1995 and 2001. After leaving the band, he has had a successful career, beginning with one of my favorite albums, Heartbreaker, which features “Come Pick Me Up.” He has several excellent albums, and his music style ranges across a wide spectrum. His forthcoming album, the limited-edition EP Class Mythology, will be released April 16. Chimesfreedom likely will revisit some of his other songs in the future, but for now enjoy his version of “Come Pick Me Up.”

    If you are curious, here is this week’s American Idol version of “Come Pick Me Up.”

    McDonald’s version of a Ryan Adams song was not the first time someone on American Idol sang a Ryan Adams song. At that time, they credited the song, “When the Stars Go Blue,” to Tim McGraw, who had recorded a cover of that song.

    What did you think of the cover of the Ryan Adams song? Leave a comment.

  • Life Lessons – From a Pulitzer-Prize Winner, a Country Star, and an American Idol
  • Caitlin Cary After Whiskeytown
  • NC Music Love Army Continues Music’s History of Protest
  • Please Remember the Original of “Please Remember Me”
  • Beyoncé and Dolly Parton: “Jolene”
  • Marty Brown Live in Calgary 1992

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