Tarnished Angel RIP: George Jones

I’ve been so wrapped up in life’s ‘important things’ this past week I’ve not seen the news or read the paper. So imagine the profound sadness I felt when I saw an old headline from a week ago…George Jones, King of the Honky Tonk, Dies at 81.

I am in no way able to put into words the influence this giant of the 20^th century has had on everyone from Merle Haggard to Elvis Costello and Keith Richards.  Indeed, here is the Rolling Stones' living fossil’s statement issued last Friday.

George Jones has left us. We have lost one of the most individual singers of all time. I cannot express the emptiness I feel.

George was as country as it can get, but he was beyond any bag you want to put him in. He was pure American music without ever waving a flag – you can hear a million imitations on the radio every day – but there was, and ever will be, only one George Jones.

He possessed the most touching voice, the most expressive ways of projecting that beautiful instrument of anyone I can call to mind. You heard his heart in every note he sang. Sinatra called him the second best singer ever. (The number one obviously being Frank!). I would contest that.

I truly loved 'the possum.' He was a crazy as me, and just as free… and, oh boy, could he hang.

For a full obit on the man they called the Frank Sinatra of country music, click here.

In a rush I’ve put together a mixtape of some of my favorite George Jones gems.

Rest in bloody peace, George!  You’ve touched us all!

Track Listing:

01 He Stopped Loving Her Today

02 You And Me And Time (With Georgette Jones)

03 Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride At All

04 If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)

05 Big Fool Of The Year

06 Cold Cold Heart

07 Relief Is Just A Swallow Away

08 Half A Mind

09 All Fall Down (feat. George Jones)

10 I Always Get It Right With You (With Shelby Lynne)

11 The Race Is On

12 Yesterday's Wine

13 A Good Year For The Roses

14 The Old Rugged Cross

15 Accidently On Purpose

16 Once A Day

17 Why Baby Why

18 Developing My Pictures

19 In The Garden

20 Amazing Grace

21 She Knows What She's Crying About

here

Other Logs from the Fire: Lollywood (link restored)

Although I’m guilty of the crime as much as anyone, I really don’t like referring to the Mumbai-based Indian cinema industry as Bollywood.  It rings false, as if it somehow were not serious, frivolous and needs to be associated (linguistically) with Hollywood to be legitimate.  But most of all, it is the narrowing of the frame of what defines an Indian film that makes me most uncomfortable. India is full of regional cinema with some of the world’s most acclaimed directors working in non-musical based cinema. (full post and goodies)

The Almost Superstars: Pradeep

Kavi Pradeep

Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi, was born in a small town near the central Indian, and very holy and ancient city of Ujjain. Ramchandra developed a fascination with Hindi poetry at a young age, which he studied at university and later taught in Lucknow. He was a notorious popular participant in public poetry readings/recitals known as kavi sammelansand by the early 1940s was already well regarded.

Entire post and goodies here.

Blue Birthdays: Ella Fitzgerald and Albert King

Ella and Albert

A couple of birthdays today.

Ella Fitzgerald and Albert King.

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Track Listing: (Ella Fitzgerald)

01 Jail House Blues

02 In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down)

03 See, See Rider

04 You Don't Know My Mind

05 Trouble In Mind

06 How Long, How Long Blues

07 Cherry Red

08 Down Hearted Blues

09 St. Louis Blues

10 Hear Me Talking To Ya

here

Track Listing: (Albert King)

01 Don't Burn Down The Bridge ('Cause You Might Wanna Come Back Across)

02 I Believe To My Soul

03 For The Love Of A Woman

04 Blues At Sunrise

05 I'll Play The Blues For You

06 Little Brother (Make A Way)

07 Roadhouse Blues

here

The Almost Superstars: Geeta Dutt

Geeta (Roy) Dutt  was for a while in the late 1940’s one of the most sought after female voices in Indian cinema. She, a Bengali, and her contemporary and peer, the Maharashtrian, Lata Mangeshkar, were breathing down the neck of the grand lady of film song Shamshed Begum, who had held the top spot for most of the 40’s. 

The whole story and goodies here

The Almost Superstars: Mahendra Kapoor

So dominant have the voices of Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi been in Bollywood playback singing that you could be forgiven for believing that these three recorded every film song recorded in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  But in fact, the vocal field is much more diverse, including such names as Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Pradip, Talat Mehmood and Bhupinder. Sadly, the conservative risk-averse mentality of most composers, producers and directors meant that these voices were never given the exposure they deserved.

Mahendra Kapoor, the focus of tonight’s post, is one of those underappreciated voices of Indian cinema.

To get the whole post and goodies click here

Change in the Weather: Washerman's Dog and Harmonium Music

As most of you are aware, one of my great passions is the music and musical culture of South Asia. That part of the world that stretches from Afghanistan in the West to Bangladesh in the East, and from Bhutan and Nepal in the Himalayas to the Maldives and Sri Lanka in the watery expanses of the Indian Ocean.

About a year ago I set up a separate website cum blog dedicated to music from that part of the world called Harmonium Music.  For a number of reasons, the biggest being, I was not sure of what I intended to do with it, Harmonium has languished on the vine.  I have thought of folding up this blog and concentrating only on Harmonium but my heart wouldn't allow it. I love South Asian music, true, but I also love African, American, Brazilian and Australian music too. I didn't want to betray one blog in order to keep the other alive.  So I have put most effort into Washerman's Dog serving up an eclectic mix of stuff, with lots of South Asian tunes thrown in.

Well, at long last I have made the decision to keep both blogs alive but by making a change to both of them.  This blog will hence forth focus on music from all over the world EXCEPT South Asia. In other words, if you like the Bollywood or Indian folk or Pakistani ghazals I've posted about here, you're going to have to click over to Harmonium.  But if that was not the main attraction for you then you don't need to do anything new or challenging. Just keep visiting as often as you like and leave your comments and suggestions, which I'll do my best to fulfill.

From now on all music related to South Asia (historic, folk, classical, contemporary) will be available on Harmonium.  I'll keep cross posting for a few weeks but then you'll have to come over to Harmonium to keep track of what I'm posting from South Asia. For those of you who visited Harmonium from time to time you'd remember that there was a 'shop' included on the site. Well, that no longer exists. The site is completely about the music with lots of informative content but nothing for sale.  

So, hopefully this change will be a win win for everyone, as they say in business circles.  Appreciate any comments or suggestions!

Thanks.