Best Of 2023
(strictly for fun and heated argument)
By Peter Jesperson
1A. Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997)
Truly one of the greatest collections of recordings I have ever heard, and easily what I listened to most in 2023. As Jayson Greene pointed out in his Pitchfork review, the TOOM sessions were “protracted, painful, and in all ways alive … the performances on Fragments surely represent some of these players’ most unguarded and searching work. Years later, they still spoke of these sessions with a mixture of anxiety and awe.” Oh man, what I would give to have been a fly on the wall!
Let’s give credit to the incredible assortment of players on TOOM for a moment. There were 12 or so musicians involved, a mix of Dylan’s touring band and session legends like Bucky Baxter (acoustic guitar, pedal steel), Duke Robillard (guitar, electric Gibson L-5), Robert Britt (Martin acoustic, Fender Stratocaster), Cindy Cashdollar (slide guitar), Tony Garnier (bass guitar, upright bass), Augie Meyers (Vox organ combo, Hammond B3 organ, accordion), Jim Dickinson (keyboards, Wurlitzer electric piano, pump organ), and drummers Jim Keltner, Brian Blade, and David Kemper.
Personally, I have always loved Daniel Lanois’ production on the original TOOM. The swampy, spooky, downright apocalyptic, sound he brought to the table in 1997 made that landmark album in Dylan’s career stand out much more than it would have, had it been stripped down (as we hear in the judicious and welcome new 2022 remix). Dylan may have had a different vision but I don’t think Lanois’ mix gets in the way of any of these songs. In some instances I like hearing a producer’s stamp on an artist’s work, and I’m particularly enthralled to hear it on a record by Bob Dylan, whose recordings are, more often than not, basic and unadorned. Stories abound of Dylan and Lanois not always seeing eye to eye during sessions for this album so I’ve always been curious to hear how Bob might have done it - ya know, if it was a ‘Jack Frost type-production.’ And now we have it! Courtesy of accomplished New York mix engineer Michael H. Brauer, best known for his work with Luther Vandross, Coldplay, and John Mayer. TOOM is unquestionably one of Dylan’s finest albums and to hear this fresh mix - a simplification of what were reportedly chaotic, yet infinitely productive sessions - is revealing. I don’t like one mix more than the other. I love having both.
The outtakes, alternative renditions, and live recordings of the TOOM songs are utterly fascinating. Not the least of which is “The Water is Wide,” the only cover in this 59-song set. A traditional song of unknown authorship, there have been dozens of covers. The version I know best and love dearly is Fred Neil’s, from his 1965 debut Bleecker and MacDougal. Bob’s version absolutely floors me, and I’d count this as one of the single greatest vocals of his entire career. Also mind-blowing: The outtake of one of Bob’s longest songs, “Highlands”; a stomping May 2000 live version of “Cold Irons Bound” from Oslo, Norway; and no less than four drastically different takes of “Red River Shore,” yet another one of Bob’s greatest songs that inexplicably never made it onto a proper album.
(https://www.bobdylan.com/news/fragments-time-out-of-mind-sessions)
1B. Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan
When first viewing the Shadow Kingdom streaming broadcast in July of 2021 I was completely shocked - in a good way - by the weirdly wonderful, and playfully unpredictable presentation. Filmed on a Santa Monica soundstage, it didn’t take long to see that the people on camera (including Buck Meek from Big Thief) weren’t actually playing the music we were hearing. It also didn’t take long to come to the realization that Bob is fully engaged in the proceedings and having loads of fun. His singing and harmonica playing are animated and inspired. I have to admit that, initially, I wasn’t all that excited about Shadow Kingdom being released as a stand-alone audio-only piece (his 40th studio album). But the more I listened minus the picture, the more the tracks clicked with me in a way they hadn’t before. In fact, the dreamy haze of the faux-live ‘Bon Bon Club’ setting, complete with a stylish, smoking, drinking, and dancing audience (seemingly unaware of the camera), was so captivating and visually seductive that it took me a minute to register that there was no drummer. We’ve since discovered the performance was recorded in advance at the Village Recorders in West LA with folks like Don Was on upright bass, T Bone Burnett on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel, and in another surprising turn, the most prominent instrument - an accordion - played by Jeff Taylor. And OMG, what a set list it is! In keeping with Bob’s always fluid approach to his writings, every song has been rearranged. Though some resemble the original recordings, others are drastically different, like “Tombstone Blues” or “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue,” both done as almost spoken word recitations. The treatment of “What Was It You Wanted” from 1989’s Oh Mercy would have fit right in on 2022’s Rough and Rowdy Ways. Not every re-do works for me, in particular, ”I’ll be Your Baby Tonight,” but as a whole, I adore this album. We’re even treated to a gorgeous, brand new instrumental to close up the joint, “Sierra’s Theme.” While I scratch my head at the subtitle referring to this collection as “The early songs,” I chalk that up to just one more inexplicable Bob move. Ain’t it grand that Bob Dylan can still catch us off guard and enchant us after 60-plus years of music making?
(https://www.bobdylan.com/news/shadow-kingdom)
2. Gold Star - self-titled EP/ Dark Days/ Uppers & Downers/ Big Blue/ Headlights U.S.A.
For me personally, the LA-based band Gold Star has been one of the great musical discoveries of my life. In brief - I’d been listening to the band for a while and loved their music, first on an album in a previous incarnation called The Sister Ruby Band, then on a debut EP as Gold Star. But live shows were sporadic, I never caught one, and I lost track of them for a bit. Then one day my son Autry raved to me about a new band he’d come across called Gold Star, and that got me back on track. I was ecstatic to find that in the interim, GS had released four albums and had a fifth in the can. I quickly devoured all the recordings I’d missed. And then I saw them live. The band was so powerful, and so up my alley, I almost couldn’t believe my ears. They embody pretty much everything I love about rock ‘n’ roll. Frontman, Marlon Rabenreither, has one of the most impressive and varied catalogs of songs I’ve heard in a long time, and the band’s live prowess matches it. They blend a kind of dark majesty (that at times makes me think of The Only Ones), with catchy, anthemic rockers a’ la Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. The albums are consistently strong, with the 2nd one, 2017’s singer-songwriter-style Big Blue being the most popular. I might prefer the rockier and broader song-styles of Uppers & Downers (2018), but honestly you could be blindfolded, throw a dart at the album titles, and you’d score high, no question. The new single/video, “Wild Boys” is self-released (streaming), with a new full-length, How To Shoot The Moon, looking for a good home. Why this band hasn’t been picked up by a substantial label is completely beyond my comprehension.
(https://goldstarlovesu.bandcamp.com)
3. Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys In The Campfire - Wronger
How to write about an artist I’ve actually been working with for forty-three years now? (Full disclosure: I also executive-produced the album with my son) I believe my opinion of Tommy’s music, though certainly biased in favor of, is valid though. I know his work and his history intimately, would never gloss over inadequacies, and always give him my unvarnished point of view. That’s precisely why he wants me involved, and that’s why we work so well together.
In my opinion, this is the best work Tommy has done post-Replacements. Many listeners claim Tommy’s first project on his own, Bash & Pop’s 1993 Friday Night Is Killing Me is his best, and I love that album too. It came out of a decade where he’d played right-hand man to one of the best rock songwriters of all-time, how could some of that not have rubbed off? But I think you also have to consider how intimidating that proximity must’ve been for Tommy artistically, and how badly he needed to get out from under the wing of said songwriter in order to find his own ‘voice’.
Since the Replacements disbanded in 1991, Tommy has kept busy. From Bash & Pop to Perfect, to fourteen years with Guns N’ Roses, to an off-and-on membership in Soul Asylum, to new Replacements recordings and reunions, to Bash & Pop Mk II, to producing other artists, to doing charity work for people in need, to his current focus Cowboys In The Campfire. All the while, Tommy has been diligently woodshedding, honing his writing/playing/singing/recording chops. Consequently, he has improved in leaps and bounds in all respects, and Wronger is a testament to the hard work he has put in. There are three or four tracks on this album that don’t sound like anything he’s done before. I could easily advocate for each of the ten songs, but I’ll call out two in particular.
“Karma’s Bitch” is the most writerly thing Tommy’s done. To take a tragic, incestuous, love triangle news story and so concisely adapt the details into song form like this is a feat of composition:
Don’t you wonder how it feels
Yes I wonder how it feels to be
the man who dumped his girlfriend for her daughter
who drank herself to death
“Schemes” is the best song he’s written to date, and the best recorded performance he’s done, so far. I’m not exactly sure what the song’s about, but when he sings, “Makes you want to scream from the top of the roof, it’s just a waste of your time,” his strong, mournful delivery makes it abundantly clear that this one cuts close to home. Wronger also shows off Tommy’s voice, the care he’s put into his singing here is clearly audible. The sound of the record is gorgeous too, and we can thank producer Christine Smith, mixing and mastering engineer Justin Perkins, and all the excellent musicians that play and sing on it: The three Cowboys (Tommy, Chip, and Chops), Otto Hauser, John Doe, and Karla Rose Moheno, among others.
(https://www.tommystinson.com/product-category/music/)
4. Iris DeMent - Workin’ On A World
It’s befitting that Iris DeMent released the most outspoken, hard-hitting commentary I heard all year on the current state of the U.S. of A. Her mettle has never been in question, but this goes above and beyond. The album contains what the New Yorker described as “a rousing eight-minute litany of gratitude and complaint” in which she sings “Goin’ down to sing in Texas where anyone can carry a gun.” The inference is chilling. Need I say more?
5. Gaz Coombes - Turn The Car Around
This is Gaz’s 4th solo album since the break-up of the sensational Supergrass. He consciously and confidently went a different direction and the sense of experimentalism was welcome. But if I had one complaint, it would be that those previous outings may have been reaching a little too hard to NOT sound like his former band. Turn The Car Around is less self-conscious, and it greatly benefits from that. While a song like “Long Live The Strange” has an unmistakable ‘Grass connection in both sound and title, the album as a whole comes across as an inspired collection of songs by an artist that’s still growing. To my ear, Gaz is also singing better than he ever has. Just listen to his magnificent vocal delivery on the title song, or album closer “Dance On,” and I think chances are you’ll agree.
6. Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia Go Deo
After making three of the greatest and most distinctive rock albums of the 21st century so far, Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. continue to defy expectations. This digital-only release brings together live sessions, covers and reworks from their third album Skinty Fia (this new title translates as Skinty Fia Forever). No mere adjunct, this collection is an essential, 80-minute, 18-song potpourri of dizzyingly forward-thinking, feverishly artistic recordings. I chuckle to myself when I hear people say, “It’s all been done before.” My ears tell me the Fontaines are proof that is simply not true.
7. Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly
I was initially surprised that the Fontaines’ frontman would make a solo album at this early stage of the band’s career. But after giving it many spins, I can not only see how it fits, I hear it as possibly a necessary purge of a portion of the flood of creativity that runs around inside Grian’s head. His voice is so unique it can’t help but remind us of his work with the Fontaines but, stylistically, it couldn’t be further away from his band’s music. We hear elements of folk and pop, strings, synthesizers and drum machines. Though I will admit, there’s something comforting to me that Fontaines’ versatile and skilled drummer, Tom Coll plays on four of the nine tracks. And that the album is helmed by Fontaines’ producer, Dan Carey. Grian’s significant other, Georgie Jesson, also brings a distinguishing freshness to the proceedings with her gorgeous backing vocals.
(https://www.grianchatten.com)
8. Luluc - Diamonds
This is Luluc’s 5th album in fifteen years. They don’t make ‘em fast, they make ‘em fastidiously. It’s funny, though I definitely hear growth and progress in their music, and much as I am madly in love with Diamonds, I don’t have a favorite Luluc album. I adore them all. The way I hear it, what sets this album apart from its predecessors is that, in the past Steve Hassett used to go out of his way to stay out of the way of his bandmate and wife, Zoe Randell. To his credit, Steve always plays in service of the song. But on Diamonds, it seems to me he goes out of his way to get in her way, to tastefully add to and build on Luluc’s sound. To hear them perform songs from this album live was one of the highlights of 2023.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luluc)
9. boygenius - the record (LP) and the rest (EP)
The rapturous musical camaraderie of boygenius is one of the many things that make them so great, their boundless enthusiasm is nothing short of contagious. You can’t go wrong with three writers of this caliber, and the audio production is impeccable. “Not Strong Enough” is one of those songs that transports me to another place. And for me, anything that has Phoebe Bridgers on it is a must-have.
10. Ian Hunter - Defiance Part 1
Ian’s records have been so consistently great this millennium, it’s kind of shocking. After all, on his next birthday, he’ll be 85 years old. But he just keeps on keepin’ on, in the studio and on stage, and doing it in style. One thing that works very much in his favor are his longtime collaborators, The Rant Band, featuring his co-producer Andy York along with James Mastro, Paul Page, Mark Bosch, and Steve Holley (though Mark and Steve aren’t on this new album). They are supplemented here by some Superstar guests, including Ringo Starr, Jeff Beck, Todd Rundgren, and Billy Gibbons. It’s another set of brilliant songs and fantastic performances. “Bed Of Roses,” which allegedly refers to Hamburg’s Star Club is a nostalgic, tear-inducing number, appropriately with Ringo on drums!
11. Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame
A stripped down album made while Robert’s wife and musical partner, Karen Baumler, battled cancer. It’s directness is in keeping with Robert’s previous work, but there’s an air of determination and firm optimism that carries it into a different realm, a more soulful kind of raw folk music. Since his first work with co-Captain Grant McLennan in one of my favorite bands of all-time, The Go-Betweens, Robert has made a career out of breaking rules of songwriting he never learned in the first place. Neither Robert or Grant were natural musicians, but they were so in love with music, it was as if they willed themselves into the role, inventing a wonderfully amateurish, daring, and creative approach. Robert has retained that air of flying by the seat of one’s pants that keeps him humble. One of my most played records of the year.
(https://www.robertforsterlive.com)
12. Chris Mars - The Average Album (rel. digitally July 2, 2023, vinyl tbd)
I love the way Chris makes and releases music these days on his own terms, playing all the instruments, and self-releasing it with no ostentatious social media promo campaigns, no world tours. Chris is an accomplished fine art painter by trade these days but takes time out every few years to do inspired, catchy and melodic musical work, with lyrics that can be admirably biting politically. These songs get stuck in my head, and I find myself humming them at all hours. This is Chris’s 6th solo album, his first since 2017’s Note To Self. These two most recent albums are only available digitally through Chris Mars Publishing (generously priced at $5 for mp3s/$10 for .wav). Yet another reminder that Paul Westerberg isn’t the only ex-Replacement that makes great music on their own.
(https://www.chrismarspublishing.com/music.html)
13. Elle Belle - How Do I Feel?
One of LA’s finest bands, Elle Belle, led by New Hampshire-born Christopher Pappas, make a sophisticated kind of pop-rock that pulls from so many different genres, it’s remarkable. He is a man with big ideas. After graduating high school, Christopher attended the Hartt School, a performing arts conservatory at the University of Hartford (CT), where he met guitarist Kyle Fredrickson, who would go on to become his longtime collaborator, as a musician and studio engineer. Christopher once startled the Boston music community when he brought a 30-piece orchestra into the downstairs music room at the Middle East and conducted them as they performed three new orchestral works he had composed. How Do I Feel?, like many coming out this year, is in part an offspring of the pandemic. The songs reflect that. They address the issue without dwelling on it, then quickly move forward with a positive stride. And the songs are so good. Expertly produced by studio owner/former Rilo Kiley bassist, Pierre de Reeder, mixed by Kyle Fredrickson.
(https://ellebellenosignal.bandcamp.com)
14. Michigander - It Will Never Be The Same (EP)/ Vevo DSCVR (EP)/ “East Chicago, IN” (single)
Somebody, please get Michigander songs to Adele! I can see her covering any one of a number of his classic pop songs and having Global Success. Michigander mastermind, Jason Singer, is writing some of the best songs of the era, they’re beautifully produced, he and his band since high school kill it live, and he deserves to be heard by a multitude!
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigander_(band)
15. Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express - Live In Paris
Their first official live album. The physical components (double vinyl and CD) are sold out but you can still get it digitally. And it’s a fine, feisty addition to the CP catalog.
(https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-paris)
16. Dorothy Moskowitz & The United States of Alchemy - Under An Endless Sky
The most experimental, ‘out there’ record I listened to this year. Dorothy’s previous band, The United States of America, only released one self-titled album in 1968 (though founding member Joe Byrd’s follow-up, The American Metaphysical Circus is almost like a sequel), but it was a staple for my friends and I in our teenage listening sessions. Under An Endless Sky is a welcome return. I can’t give you a better description than the synopsis on Bandcamp:
“An amazing and unexpected return from the magical voice of The United States of America. This album reminds me of many different things all at once without sounding exactly like any one: Nico, Marianne Faithful, Robert Wyatt, and Dorothy's own past work. Total chill-out music of the highest order and of high art. ”
(https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/under-an-endless-sky)
Singles
The Beatles - “Now And Then”
I unabashedly love this John Lennon demo, reconstructed with added accompaniment by his former bandmates. I could’ve done with less of the “last-Beatles-record-ever” hyperbole.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Then_(Beatles_song)
Labrys - “Satisfaction,” “Irish Goodbye,” “Found God,” “Don’t Tell Me What To Do,” ”In Motion,” “Silver Screen”
Labrys is a band led by Penny Pitchlynn from Broncho.
Fat, Evil Children - “Weedpuller,” “Down The Line”
Playful, hooky, scrappy, melodic, indie folk-pop-rock from a prolific band who are blossoming right before our very eyes. Debut album, FEC, out May 17th.
(https://fatevilchildren.bandcamp.com)
Truman Sinclair - “Zelda,” “Strange Trip”
Inventive, all-over-the-map indie rock from this relentless guitar ace/studio rat/producer (and he plays a helluva harmonica too).
(https://trumansinclair.bandcamp.com)
Frat Mouse - “cmwygt (paint pen),” “closure”
Catchy, rockin, emo/garage power trio with smart songs. Just saw ‘em do a spectacular sold-out show at the Troubadour.
(https://fratmouse.bandcamp.com)
Reissues and Archival
Buzz Zeemer - Lost And Found
One of Philadelphia’s all-time greatest bands, Buzz Zeemer, made these glorious tracks between 1993 and 1997. Four of the 19 songs were mixed in 2023 by longtime band affiliate, Adam Lassus. Fronted by gifted Power-Pop-Rock writer/performer, Frank Brown, with songs like “Shelley Don’t Mind” and “I Live Next Door,” these fellas should have been hugely famous. Brought to you by the eminent Mr. Pat Feeney.
(https://buzzzeemer.bandcamp.com/album/lost-and-found)
The Replacements - Tim Let It Bleed Edition
As with the 2019 reissue of the Replacements’ Don’t Tell A Soul album - under the name Dead Man’s Pop - this set includes a new mix of the original album, a historical ‘correction’ of sorts. Seasoned pro mixer/producer, Ed Stasium (Ramones, Talking Heads, Motorhead), has remixed the entire album, removing the overuse of reverb on the vocals and snare drum. Now it sounds like The Replacements sounded in 1985, and it's a glorious thing! There are of course a bevy of excellent outtakes, and a live set from Cabaret Metro in Chicago that is a perfect snapshot of the band’s live show of the day.
(https://www.rhino.com/article/the-replacements-detail-tim-let-it-bleed-edition)
Supergrass Life On Other Planets Deluxe 3-CD Edition
One of the ‘Grass’s best albums, expanded with demos, outtakes and live cuts. Including a letter-perfect version of Neil Young’s “The Loner”!
The Unthanks
- The Bairns (originally released as Rachel Unthank & The Winterset)
- Here’s The Tender Coming
- Last
Wondrous, adventurous folk from these extraordinary vocalists/musicians. Lavishly redone double vinyl, beautifully mastered, including 12x12 booklets with a new foreword in each. They sound and look incredible. For me, the title song from Last is one for the ages, a one-in-a-million composition/recording, so to hear this pristine new cut of that song on vinyl is a precious thing. Truly one of my current favorite bands on earth.
(https://www.the-unthanks.com)
SVT - Always Comes Back
Tremendous late 70s/early 80s Bay Area garage-rock band, featuring ace frontman Brian Marnell and Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna bassist, Jack Casady (released in 2020 but I just found it in ’23).
(https://svtband.bandcamp.com/album/always-comes-back-the-authorized-recordings)
Live (in LA except as otherwise noted)
January
- 26 - Carole King documentary: Home Again (Live From Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973) - The Grammy Museum/Clive Davis Theater
February
- 2 - Booker T. Jones - interview + performance - Hotel Café
- 26 - The Sadies - Zebulon
March
- 14 - 17 - the Bob Dylan Center / Woody Guthrie Center / The Church Studios - Tulsa, OK
- 31 - Rayland Baxter - Pappy & Harriet’s - Pioneertown, CA
April
- 1 - Rayland Baxter - The Troubadour
- 15 - Herman’s Hermits (w/Peter Noone!) - The Canyon Club - Calabasas, CA
May
- 17 - The Descendents - St. Rocke - Hermosa Beach
- 19 - Nuggets 50th Anniversary Concert w/ M.C. Lenny Kaye - The Alex Theater
June
- 3 - Julianna Riolino w/Kassi Valazza - Zebulon
- 12 - Luluc - Bardot
- 20 - Daniel Romano’s Outfit - The Independent - San Francisco
- 22 - Daniel Romano’s Outfit - The Troubadour
- 23 - Daniel Romano’s Outfit - The Soda Bar - San Diego
- 30 - Neil Young (solo) The John Anson Ford Amphitheater
July
- 21 - Have You Got It Yet? - Syd Barret/Pink Floyd documentary - North Hollywood Laemmle Theater
August
- 3 - Taylor Swift - SoFi Stadium
- 8 - Elle Belle - Fable
- 30 - The Mastersons - Golddiggers
September
- 3 - Gold Star - Golddiggers
- 9 - Gold Star - Echo Park Rising Festival - The Echo
- 12 - Debbi Dawson - The Moroccan
- 19 - Have You Got It Yet? - Syd Barret/Pink Floyd documentary (AGAIN!) - The Regent
- 20 - The Baseball Project - The Teragram Ballroom
- 27 - Listening party for The Replacements Let It Bleed Edition - Golddiggers
October
- 2 - The Walkmen - The Henry Fonda Theater
- 3 - Fontaines D.C. - The Wiltern Theater
- 9 - The Chris Stamey Orchestra - Wild Honey Backyard Amphitheater
- 13 - Taylor Swift - The Eras Tour concert film - Burbank 16 - IMAX Theater
- 16 - Dope Lemon - The Bellwether
- 21 - Jackson Browne & Band - The Pantages Hollywood
- 26 - Fat Evil Children (F.E.C.) - El Cid
November
- 3 - Cowboys In The Campfire - Sleight Of Hand Winery - Seattle, WA
- 4 - Cowboys In The Campfire - Strum (Guitar Shop) - Portland, OR
- 10 - Book release event for Living The Beatles Legend - The Untold Story of Mal Evans - Grammy Museum/Clive Davis Theater
- 14 - Book release event for my book, Euphoric Recall, at The Electric Fetus; with solo acoustic performances by Steve Almaas, Tim O’Reagan, Curtiss A, and Robert Wilkinson
- 17 - Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - The Turf Club - St. Paul, MN
- 18 - Re-release party for Big Hits of Mid-America Volume Three - Hopkins Center For The Arts - Hopkins, MN, featuring The Hypstrz, Fingerprints, Yipes, Curtiss A, The Suicide Commandos, and special guests. Not to mention emcee extraordinaire, Jonny Clifford!
In The Must Mention Category
Book & book tour
Over the last three years I worked on writing a memoir of my work in music over the last 50+ years. It’s called Euphoric Recall. It was alternately thrilling and torturous! Of course now that it’s out, there are a hundred things I’d like to fix/add/remove, but ...
Beforehand, I was worried about doing promo for it. I’m not a good public speaker and I just couldn’t imagine myself doing readings. It occurred to me that the best route might be to do Q&As with a local music person in whatever cities would have me. Then Tommy Stinson popped by the house one day and we got to talking. He was planning a tour of the West Coast with his band Cowboys In The Campfire in the fall of 2023, about the same time my book was coming out. We thought, why not collaborate? After all, he’s one of the ‘main characters’ in the book, and I worked on his new record. Tommy was able to join me for five of the nine book promo events I’ve done so far, and we’re planning some more. The collaboration works well, we’ve had excellent moderators, all the events were well attended, and folks seemed to enjoy the conversations. Hearty THANK YOUs go out to emcee’s Charles Cross in Seattle, Neal Weiss in Portland, Roy Trakin and Mark Blackwell in LA, Mary Lucia in Minneapolis, Craig Finn in NYC, Dan Reed in Philadelphia, and Dean Budnick in Providence, RI.
(https://shop.mnhs.org/products/euphoric-recall)
The Bob Dylan Center - Tulsa, OK
Jennifer and my in-laws gave Autry and I one of the greatest Christmas presents ever - a trip to Tulsa, OK to visit the Bob Dylan Center. We went during Autry’s spring break from college in March. My longtime friend and music biz vet, Larry White, now a Tulsa resident entrenched in the local music scene there, rolled out the red carpet for us. Between Larry, and the two head honchos of the Dylan Center - Steve Higgins and Steve Jenkins, we did not want for anything. Surprisingly, both of ‘the Steves’ are huge Replacements’ fans, and treated us like Kings. The Dylan Center was overwhelming in the best possible way, and we combed through the place over three days: hand-written lyrics; never-before-seen photographs; alternate album art; a room running loops of rare film footage; a make-shift recording studio where you can separate and listen to individual instruments and vocals from Dylan sessions; the leather jacket Dylan wore at the Newport Folk Festival electric set July ’65 was on display; the enormous, lobby-filling, example of his metal sculptures … it was spectacular. We were told that what they have on display now is only approximately 5% of the total 100,000 item archive, so they’ll be putting up new exhibits for years to come. Which means Autry and I will be making regular visits there for years to come! Big Thank Yous also go out to Teresa Knox and the staff at Leon Russell’s Church Studios for the personal tour of the stunning facility; Tate Wittenberg for showing us the work-in-progress building, OKPOP - The Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture - three floors of exhibits which will cover everyone from Leon Russell to Bob Wills, J.J. Cale, The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards, and even The Sex Pistols, who played the still-in-business Cain’s Ballroom in January of 1978; and to our friend Ryan Lindsey (and his S.O. Jessica) for taking us to the Philbrook Museum, playing us rough mixes of the upcoming Broncho album, and chauffeuring us around. Tulsa is a happening town!
(https://bobdylancenter.com) (https://woodyguthriecenter.org) (https://thechurchstudio.com) (https://philbrook.org)
Surprise Discovery Of The Year
“If I Should Fall Behind” from Linda Ronstadt’s 1998 Elektra album, We Ran
How did I miss this album?! I recently ran into it in a used bin. I’d never even seen the cover. Not surprisingly, it’s another great Linda Ronstadt record. I’m such a sucker for just about anything she sings. This album’s produced by Glyn Johns, which is of course cool and interesting. Musicians include Fred Tackett, Bernie Leadon, Jim Keltner, Ethan Johns, and various Heartbreakers. There are number of covers, including songs by Linda’s frequent bandmate, Waddy Wachtel, Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, and Bruce Springsteen. It’s a really good album all the way through but one song just leapt out at me. It’s called “If I Should Fall Behind.” I’d never heard the song before. Found out it was on Bruce’s 1992 album Lucky Town, one I wasn’t familiar with. I was so moved by Linda’s version, I’ll bet I played it a hundred times over the next month or so. Simply stunning!
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Ran)
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RIP:
Jeff Beck, Seymour Stein, Keith Reid, David Crosby. Tom Verlaine, Burt Bachararach, David Lindley, Harry Belafonte, Gordon Lightfoot, Linda Lewis, Chas Newby, Tina Turner, Astrud Gilberto, Tony Bennett, Biff Rose, Robbie Robertson, Sixto Rodriguez, Jerry Moss, Gary Wright, Dwight Twilley, Shane MacGowan, Denny Laine.