Cracks In Sidewalks

“I think about you and that long ride, bite my nails and get weak inside.”  How can one not love Lucinda?  But I have to say it was hard to pick just one song to start leading us down that long and winding Lucinda Williams road.

I’ve been a big fan of Lucinda’s for a number of years, albums before her most well known, “Car Wheels.”  And yes I refer to her as Lucinda, not Lucinda Williams, because by now we should be on a first name basis.

I’ve listened to her lament; sing about love and loss, read the lyrics to her stories, and seen her in concert many times over.  I have visited Lake Charles, Greenville, and Nacodoches; felt her every word and moved to every chord.  I’ve dreamed of being Lucinda, and also been happy I’m not her.  Sometimes she’s seemed too sad!  But I’ve always wished I had her talent and her guts.   Her talent, because it is evident in her writing and the way she expresses it; her guts, because she says it like it is to her.  She’s not afraid to share her raw emotion.  You can hear it in her lyrics and the sound of her moans as she sings.

Lucinda Williams is both great and depressing, but sometimes it is just what I need, to hear someone suffering in love more than me.  Other times she is so damn sexy that I strut around my apartment as if I were singing to 20,000 people and they all thought I was the sexiest bitch on the planet.  She’s sorrowful, sexy, lyrical and sensitive all in one, and the woman rocks!

“Right In Time” is just one of many Lucinda songs I love, and I hope my Daily Tune On choice today is “Right In Time” with you.

To view Lucinda Williams singing “Right In Time” either click on the link below, or cut and paste it into your browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0Wajk8vF0&feature=related

Etta James – “Blind Girl”

I’ve been a big Etta James fan for a long time now.  That being said I decided that to start with Etta James it would be good to begin with a song that early on became one of her signature songs, “Blind Girl”.  The arrangement I’m including here is an arrangement of Etta singing “Blind Girl” in a duet with another great, Dr. John.

One of the first times I ever saw Etta James in concert was at an Oakland California Blues Festival.  She was the headliner and came on after the crowd had been very warmed up with 8 hours of previous blues acts.  The second she got on stage, she owned both the stage and the audience, completely playing to the crowd strutting “all” her stuff.  In front of me, there she was, Etta singing and shaking, being her full of personality sexy self with a voice that forces your body to get on its feet and move to the rhythm and command of her powerful sultry voice; and before you know it you and everyone around you find yourself happily and soulfully swimming in a sea of Etta’s magic.  She can be that powerful and move you to that degree, that is, when she feels it and when she wants to.

I’ve also seen her in many other smaller settings both east coast and west, and when she is on and in the mood, it will be one of the best concerts you will ever see.  But when she is not in the mood or you catch her being temperamental, I’ve been to shows where she came on, sang a few songs, and just walked off the stage.  That being said I have never regretted going to see an Etta James concert because even 5 songs is better then none, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad note leave her lips.  She is truly one of the masters of her genre.

But if you ever do have the pleasure of seeing her live, and she happens to be in a mood to really sing, let it out and play with the audience, it will be a concert you will never forget. You will be a fan for life imitating her performances and songs in the privacy of your own home, maybe for your own audience, ☺ ,wishing if only for one night you could sing, move, and emote like Etta.

A few tidbits about Etta James: She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938 in Los Angeles to an unmarried 14-year-old African-American mother, Dorothy Hawkins. She received her first professional vocal training at the age of five years old, from James Earle Hines, at the Echoes of Eden Choir at St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles.  Etta James is credited with being discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis.  As an up and coming young recording artist she caught the eye of “Little Richard” with whom she toured.  It is said that on this tour she became addicted to drugs, a habit that took years for her to break.  Etta James is probably best known for her song, “At Last”.   She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

To view this performance of Etta James and Dr. John singing “Blind Girl”, either click on the link below or cut and paste the link into your browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMd19sE6U4

Boswell Sisters “Crazy People”

I can’t believe I found this video of the Boswell Sisters singing “Crazy People”. For those of you unfamiliar with the Boswell Sisters, they were a 3 sister singing act that recorded in the late 20’s through the mid thirties. Their harmonies and syncopation became infamous. The Andrew Sisters were actually a take off on the Boswell Sisters.

The Boswell Sisters did many of their recordings with the Dorsey Brothers, most of which would start around 2 in the morning after they all completed their nightly gigs. Getting a take back then was laborious and each take the musicians were given was considered to be rather permanent, so it had to be good with few to no mistakes.

One funny story I read about these sessions, talked about the Dorsey Brothers bass player. As time was short, takes were precious and few, and most of the guys had already been drinking earlier in the evening during their previous gigs, they decided a no alcohol rule would be enforced during their recording sessions. So no one could quite figure out how it was that the bass player continued to get drunk. Then one night while recording they caught him opening up the back of his upright bass. It appeared he had built a trap door in his bass and was storing his booze there.

Anyway at one point in my life as a singer, I spent day and night listening to the Boswell Sisters, trying to learn from their harmonies and music. Their songs and arrangements were something to aspire to and not easy to sing.

This particular song and arrangement holds special meaning to me. I did a jazz program in University and sang an arrangement of this song with some friends of mine for my senior recital. It was my favorite part of the program and a recording that I think I may need to go through my drawers and find.

Get a small taste of what I’m talking about.  See the sisters by clicking on the link below or cutting and pasting the link into your browser, and have some fun! There will be more Boswell Sisters down the line.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19hb7_boswell-sisterscrazy-people_music

Tim Buckley’s “Buzzin Fly”. One of my all time favorite songs and definitely in this song you will hear one of my all time favorite voices! Something about Tim Buckley’s voice is ethereal or other worldly to me. He used his voice like an instrument and the timbre of the sound he let out when singing sent chills down my spine and connected me to some place deep and spiritual. He was definitely an original that due to his untimely death at the age of 28 many people missed. In recent years he has been best known as the father of singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley.

Originally released in 1969 on his album entitled “Happy Sad” for Electra. This body of work represented the beginning of Buckley’s experimentation of mixing elements of jazz into his material and songs.

To hear “Buzzin Fly” and to learn more about Tim Buckley, simply click on the address below, or if necessary cut and paste the address into your web browser.  At the top of the page on the left you will see Tim Buckley / Tracks.  Click on tracks and go to #17 and hit play.

http://www.last.fm/music/Tim+Buckley/_/Buzzin’+Fly