TOMORROW NIGHT ON THE CATHOLIC CHANNEL - DAVE MATTHEWS' MUSIC

Tomorrow night I'll make my first appearance of 2012 on The Busted Halo Show on SiriusXM's Catholic Channel. It's always fun to hang with Father Dave, Robyn and Brett. Now they have a new board op, a good friend of mine named Christian.  I hung out with Christian at the Rock The Bells festival two summers ago, and we've worked together a number of times since.

Anyway, I'm dedicating my appearance to a friend who is no longer with us.  She was a huge Dave Matthews fan, so I'm playing some Dave songs in her memory.  It's all songs with The Dave Matthews Band, not from his solo stuff or his live material with Tim Reynolds.

A lot of people blow off Dave: in some ways, he combines two things that are very "uncool" in hipster circles: his roots are in the jamband scene, and he has huge appeal with soccer moms.

To me, Dave is a bit different than the rest of the jam band scene in that his lyrics are pretty important (and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being pretty heavy and dark). Also, he keeps the songs relatively short (at least in the studio) and tuneful... hence, he has a ton of hit singles. Hence, his appeal to soccer moms. He isn't a metal dude or a punk dude or an "alternative" dude or an indie rocker. He's a regular guy with a kind of awkward sensibility. I'm not the hugest fan: I have most of his studio albums and some live ones.  I don't need to have every one.  I rarely see his concerts - the long jams just aren't my thing. But I have a ton of respect for the guy, he deals with his stardom as well as probably anyone.  He enjoys it, but doesn't let it dictate what he does creatively. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him, and he seems to be a great guy.  

I had two songs that I definitely wanted to use - "Ants Marching" and "Everyday."  "Ants Marching" was the first song I ever heard by Dave.  I was at the H.O.R.D.E. tour and I heard this weird riff coming from the small stage.  I went to check it out.  This band featured black and white guys, guitar, violin and sax.  I thought, "man, this is great, but they'll never get big, they're too different." Oops! I think of that every time I heard the riff.  "Everyday" is a rare instance of a video really enhancing the song.  If you've never seen it, check it out.   I "crowdsourced" the third song on my personal Facebook page, and if you want to hear what song it is, well, you gotta tune in.  If you have a subscription, great! I'm on The Catholic Channel at 7:20 pm-ish.  If not, go here to get a free online trial subscription.

WHAT THE... SANTANA'S SUPERNATURAL TURNS 10!

Man, time does fly.  Next week, Sony Legacy is releasing the tenth anniversary edition of Santana's Supernatural. It isn't remastered, I don't think - it came out in 1999, I doubt they could improve the sound! Disc 1 is the entire original album, and disc 2 includes some tracks that didn't make the original (including a second collab with Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford, "Rain Down On Me," remixes of "Corazon Espinado" (the song that featured Mana, the Mexican rock band) and the huge hit "Maria Maria" (produced by Wyclef Jean and featuring his then-protegees The Product G&B), an extra jam with Eric Clapton and some other stuff.

The album was a pretty stunning comeback for Carlos Santana. At that point, he was pretty much an "oldies" classic rock type artist.  This not only made him a rock star, it made him a pop star and even saw him crossing over into hip-hop and R&B. Yes, people can bitch that a lot of it was contrived marketing on the part of co-producer and record mogul Clive Davis (who originally signed him to Columbia after Woodstock, and signed him to Arista thirty years later). But the fact is, these "all-star" type albums that are supposed to bring a legacy artist to a new generation hardly ever work, and I can't think of many, or any, that have worked this well (with the exception of Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company). It connected Carlos with the jam band scene that he had such a huge influence over via the Dave Matthews collab ("Love Of My Life" - the first single, although it didn't really become a hit), the alt-rock scene with "Put Your Lights On," featuring former House Of Pain MC turned singer/songwriter Everlast (and that song was a pretty huge hit), hip-hop and R&B with "Maria Maria" as well as "Do You Like The Way" produced by Lauryn Hill and featuring Cee-Lo Green (then with Goodie Mob, now more famous for Gnarls Barkley). The song with Mana reminded folks that he was the first big Latino rock star (or one of them), and the Clapton song was a nod towards classic rock. But it was his biggest pop hit ever, "Smooth," a collaboration with Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty that really made the album a monster. I've written about how people really hate on the guy, but this is a good song, and as far as I'm concerned, bringing Carlos Santana to new audiences is a great thing.

Anyway, the extras on the album are cool, but not essential. Amazon is selling the album for $13.99, which is good for two cds, but if you have the original, it may not be a totally necessary purchase.

NEIL YOUNG - LONG DAY, GREAT PERFORMANCES

It seemed like such an odd day: it was Conan O'Brien's last day as the rightful host of NBC's The Tonight Show, and while that was a bummer, the Hope for Haiti telethon put on by MTV put everything in perspective. Tom Hanks appeared at both events, as did Neil Young.

Although the telethon aired (live) before Conan, Conan taped his show before the telethon, so both Tom and Neil probably had to jet across town.  It all worked out.

Neil performed at the telethon with his fellow Farm Aid chairperson Dave Matthews.  They did a pretty stark acoustic duo version of Hank Williams' "Alone and Foresaken." On Conan, he performed one of his classics, "Long May You Run" (the title track of the lone Stills-Young Band album, released in 1976). If you saw the show, it ended with Will Ferrell dressed as the late Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, leading Max Weinberg and the band through "Freebird." The performance was cooler looking than sounding, because Will's voice got annoying. But when he wasn't singing, he was making out with some chick, or playing (what else?) the cowbell. But a funny point was that he was wearing the same Neil Young Tonight's The Night t-shirt that Ronnie used to wear. The band were joined by supporters Ben Harper, Billy Gibbons and Beck. And Conan actually played a pretty face-melting guitar solo himself.

Back to Neil.  What I didn't know (until I checked the great fansite Thrasher's Wheat) was that yesterday, Neil's long time film making collaborator L.A. Johnson passed away. L.A., who worked on the Woodstock film, worked with Neil as a director or producer on many of his films, including Journey Through The Past, Human Highway, Rust Never Sleeps, Weld, Year Of The Horse, Silver and Gold, and also worked on Neil's albums including Greendale and Living With War.  He also worked on the video content on the Archives box set, and was working with Neil on the Linc-Volt documentary.

NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE CONCERT LINEUP ANNOUNCED

Over the summer, I mentioned that NARAS had announced that the great Neil Young would be honored as their MusicCares Person Of The Year in 2010. The concert/event will take place January 29 at the L.A. Convention center, and will probably cost a ton of money (albeit, going to a good cause, MusicCares does some good stuff).

I've read online (but not at the NARAS site) a list of performers, so I don't know if it offiical, but if it is, this is a great lineup: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Dave Matthews, Ozomalti, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Crosby Stills & Nash, Wilco, Jackson Browne, Josh Groban(!) and some new band called Everest. Fans rarely get to see these shows (even on TV) which is too bad, especially this year.

BEN HARPER, TOM MORELLO, WARREN HAYNES SIGN ON TO PETE SEEGER'S 90TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT

A lot more artists have signed on for Pete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration: joining the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and John Mellencamp: Ben Harper, Warren Haynes, Tom Morello, Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Franti of Spearhead, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, Del McCoury, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Taj Majal among others. See the whole lineup here. There's an American Express pre-sale, which I find shocking, but they are probably donating money to The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is close to Pete's heart.

NEIL YOUNG: FARM AID WRAP UP, BRIDGE CONCERT LINEUP

Yesterday was Farm Aid 2008. I went last year when it hit New York, and the year before in Camden, New Jersey. This year is was in Boston, but I didn't have to bucks to make the trip. Plus, I saw John Mellencamp earlier this summer, and I'm going to see Neil Young and his current band later this year. Of course, Willie Nelson played (his Farm Aid sets are usually a bit messy), as did Dave Matthews (as a duo with Tim Reynolds, as they did last year). Also on the bill was The Pretenders (who have a cool album out that I'll be writing about soon), Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Chesney (as the token mainstream country act on the bill), Jakob Dylan and the great patriot Steve Earle. Farm Aid is a great event, you should catch it if you can.

Neil has also announced the lineup for this year's Bridge School Benefit concert. Neil of course is headlining, Pegi Young is also on the bill, as well as Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, Cat Power and opera singer Josh Grobman. For real. One night, ZZ Top will be playing, the other night it will be "The Smashing Pumpkins." I always say that I'm going to go to The Bridge School Benefit concert, but this is not one of the more exciting lineups (although I'd like to see ZZ Top "unplugged"). It is, of course, a great cause to support regardless of who is playing in any given year.

9/11 MUSIC PART 1 - AMERICA: A TRIBUTE TO HEROES

On one hand, what can music do when the entire country is simultaneously mourning and in shock? On the other - in my opinion, and in that of many others - music helps people to heal in a small way.

The America: A Tribute To Heroes telethon took place on 9/21, just ten days after 9/11. I remember being totally moved, and in the back of mind a bit impressed with the networks. I thought they did a great job of being classy, not cheesy, not embarrassing, and clearly dropped the usual business and commerical concerns.

I listen to the album once a year - around 9/11 obviously. I remember seeing Bruce Springsteen open the show with "My City Of Ruins." At my job at VH1, we actually had footage of him performing it a week or so earlier at a fair in Asbury Park. It was about Asbury Park, but obviously it really worked for the awful situation the country was in. Most people thought he wrote it after 9/11, which goes to show how good of a writer Bruce is. Stevie Wonder along with the vocal group Take 6 did a great version of his underrated classic "Love's In Need Of Love Today" from Songs In The Key Of Life. Alicia Keys did a solo piano reading of Donny Hathaway 's "Someday We'll All Be Free." It was oddly joyous: she was partially mourning, but also looking toward a better future. Dave Matthews did a solo version of his "Everyday," a hit single at the time that also worked perfectly. The Dixie Chicks did a really moving version of "I Believe In Love," which I don't think they'd released yet. Sting did a very apropos "Fragile" and U2 did their best ever version of their instant-classic "Walk On." Sheryl Crow sang my personal favorite song of hers "Safe And Sound" (originally about an ex-boyfriend, it still seemed to fit the situation), Neil Young had one of his finest moments with his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" (a song that Clear Channel supposedly "banned" from its radio stations post 9/11) and Neil also backed Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready on "Long Road."

For that night, it helped make the events of 9/11 a bit easier to process somehow. Willie Nelson ended the night leading a number of artists (including Mariah Carey) through a ragged version of "America The Beautiful," which made me feel patriotic and like it was time to start trying to move on.

THE ROLLING STONES - THE LAST WALTZ?

I'm really looking forward to The Rolling Stones' upcoming Martin Scorsese-directed documentary, Shine A Light. Scorsese, of course, also helmed The Band's The Last Waltz. I wonder if this film will be like that - their last hurrah. How much longer will they go on for?

Having seen them on their last tour, I can honestly say I was knocked out by how great they were. I'd love to see them one more time.

People always accuse them of being "about the money." No doubt, I'm sure they all enjoy being rich. But they have tons of money, when you see them play, you see how much they love it. Even Mick.

Sort of overshadowed in the Shine A Light hype is the DVD box set Biggest Bangs, with three full length concert recordings from their last tour. I read an ad calling it "The best Stones doc yet" or something like that. Like, "We know the Scorsese one hasn't come out yet, so000..." Of course, Gimme Shelter is really better, documentary-wise, anyway. But the performances are great, the extras are fun, particularly their collabs with Eddie Vedder, Bonnie Raitt and Dave Matthews. I wish they'd release those on CD, or at least digitally.

One thing I hope they don't do is sell the Rolling Stones Records catalog (basically Sticky Fingers and everyting since) as has been rumored. I think the guys should keep their masters.

Anyway, I'm looking foward to this flick and the soundtrack: it will include live collabs with Jack White, Christina Aguilera (who can sing) and Buddy Guy. But the band, performing at NYC's Beacon Theater, I'm sure were great regardless of who was on the guest list.

FARM AID 2007

Farm Aid was great. Great bands, great cause, great day. A few things I took home from the day:

Neil Young still rules.

The Allman Brothers Band members are great individually, but together they are truly awe-inspiring.

I'm psyched to hear John Mellencamp's new album.

It's worth going through the extra effort to use organic or locally grown foods. I am definitely going to try to search out locally grown when and where I can. I could write more about this, but you can get all the info you need at Farm Aid's web site.

The music: unfortunately, I missed The Supersuckers. Fun band, but I think they only did three songs, and I've seen them twice this year. When I got there, Matisyahu was playing. That was OK. Then The Derek Trucks Band went on. Although I was blown away by Derek's guitar playing when I saw the Allmans earlier this summer, I didn't think I'd like his own band. I thought it would be a bit too show-offy and not song based enought. His band didn't play for long, but it wasn't like that at all. His wife, the excellent singer Susan Tedeschi joined him for most of his set, and it was really good: they did a great version of the blues classic "Key To The Highway." He also has a great singer in his band.

After that was some band called Guster, who didn't really capture my attention much. Then another Allman Brother, Warren Haynes, came on for an acoustic set. He opened with a super-obscure Elton John cover, "Indian Sunset" (from Madman Across The Water). Honestly, I recognized it, but couldn't place it until I read someone else's review. He also did U2's "One" and his own classic Allman/Gov't Mule song, "Soulshine."

Counting Crows tried to throw some "Thunder Road" into one of their songs. Nice try. Then Gregg Allman came out. His set was billed as a special set with Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews. It wasn't quite that: first Gregg and Willie did "Midnight Rider," which was rough but cool, then Gregg, Warren and Dave did "Melissa" which was great. They should put those on iTunes, I'd buy 'em. Then the rest of the Allmans came on: phenomonal. I know there's people who will scoff at them for having young guys who weren't born when the band started (Derek Trucks, bassist Oteil Burbridge, percussionist Marc Quinones), or because they're a "jam band," or because they're "old." Or for firing former guitarist/singer Dickey Betts a few years back. The latter I get: but the fact is, the band sounds incredible, and they probably wouldn't be around anymore (at least not with Gregg) had they not fired Dickey. I'm not saying that I was glad he was fired, but I am saying that the band's current incarnation is incredible. I imagine in a few years, Gregg and drummers Butch Trucks and Jaimoe will retire - I expect that Warren, Oteil, Marc and Derek will keep the music alive in a dignified manner (but they probably will change their name).

Dave Matthews did a duo set with Tim Reynolds: I'm not a huge Dave follower, but I'd seen him with his regular band, once with his "Dave Matthews & Friends" group and at last year's Farm Aid, he played solo acoustic. Last night was really good. I like Dave, I don't love him, but I think he handles his fortune and stature with incredible humility and grace. And he's written some very good songs.

John Mellencamp has become something of a hit machine in recent years, although at last year's Farm Aid he opened with a then-unreleased song, "Our Country." This set was a bit adventurous. He opened with a song from his next album, "Troubled Land," and he did another one from that album, "If I Die Sudden" (with Derek Trucks). He had a small tight band - guitar, upright bass, organ, drums, and they did tightened, rocking versions of "Rain On The Scarecrow" and "Paper In Fire," which were great. John did two solo acoustic songs: "Our Country" and "To Washington." He noted that "To Washington" got him booed at Farm Aid a few years ago, because it calls Bush to task for the war. In New York, it was a different story: we know the deal, and the song got cheers. Well done, John.

I've seen Young Neil many, many times, but last night's set was a different thing: just Neil, his wife Pegi on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, and his longtime sideman Ben Keith on dobro. Other than "Heart Of Gold," he avoided hits as usual: an unusual move for a concert like Farm Aid, but that's Neil. He also did "Human Highway" (from Comes A Time), one of my favorites - "Too Far Gone" (from Freedom) and "Silver And Gold" (from the album of the same name). Willie and his harmonica player Mickey Raphael joined him on stage for "Homegrown" (a song originally about... well, anyway, now it's about organic farming) and a cover of Ian & Sylvia's "Four Strong Winds." I recall Willie joining Neil for the same songs last year, but Neil had a much bigger band, it was a different deal.

I have to confess, I left before Willie went on, but I've seen many Willie performances and hopt to see many more.