BUDDY MILLER'S "THE MAJESTIC SILVER STRINGS"

This is actually a group, led by Buddy Miller, one of my favorite artists of the '00s. Buddy has made great records on his own and with his wife, Julie Miller.  He produced two of my favorite albums of 2010, Robert Plant's Band Of Joy and Patty Griffin's Downtown Church. I actually discovered Buddy as a member of Emmylou Harris' band during her Spyboy era (I saw him open for her and play guitar in her band about a decade ago).

Bill Frisell, a kind of art-jazz guy who has played a lot with John Zorn and also Vernon Reid, is also in the band. So is Marc Ribot, another guy who has played with Zorn, but he's played a lot with Tom Waits as well. And finally, Greg Leisz, who I know mainly as the steel guitarist who plays with Matthew Sweet, but he's played for tons of other artists as well.

This album features mostly traditional country songs re-interpreted in interesting ways with lots of guest vocalists, including Patty, Emmylou, Julie, Lee Ann Womack and Mark Anthony Thompson (aka Chocolate Genius, a solo artist who played with Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Band). It doesn't come off as a gimmicky record-label contrived production, it's quite good.  I like Buddy's simpler stuff, and I'd also like to hear more of Buddy singing (he mostly stays back and lets other people sing), but it is a really cool album, very ambitious. It reminds me in some ways of Don Was' Orquestra Was project, just in how it takes country to a very different place.  A lot of this album makes me feel like I am at a beach party in Hawaii as the sun is coming up.

The highlights: the most rocking song on the album is Roger Miller's "Dang Me" (given a different twist by Chocolate Genius, singing "they oughta take a rope and hang me!") and Emmylou's take on '50s country singer Stonewall Jackson's "Why I'm Walkin'." Buddy and Marc take the vocals on George Jones' "Why Baby Why" which is excellent and Julie sings "God's Wing'ed House," which she wrote the lyrics to (Marc wrote the music).

If you've heard of Buddy Miller and want to check him out, this is NOT where to start. For that, I'd go with Buddy & Julie's The Best Of The Hightone Years.  But give this one a few listens, it's rewarding.

THE ARGUMENT - 5 MORE FOR THE HALL OF FAME

Well, it's been over a week since this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, congratulations to Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Neil Diamond and Leon Russell.  In the past few days, I've written "arguments" for who I think I deserves to be inducted in 2012 (and soon afterwards): KISS, The New York Dolls, Public Enemy, Bill Withers, Rush, Joy Division and Randy Rhoads. I'm about to wrap this theme up.  But there's five more artists I'd suggest for induction in the next few years.

The Cure. Some people may say that they haven't aged well, but I disagree.  I'd argue that they are sort of timeless. No matter what is the "in" thing, there's always going to be kids dressed in all black playing songs that reflect their feelings of alienation. But most of those songs won't be as good as the ones that Robert Smith has written. Sometimes The Cure is "in," and other times they aren't, but Smith has never seemed to care what's going on in the music scene. It's funny that a lot of people don't even know what they're about. I remember in the mid-90s going to see The Cure - a metal friend of mine was at the same show.  The next day he remarked that the show was really close to being a metal show. Everyone wearing black, really intense band, loud guitars.  I mean, "Fascination Street" is loud guitar rock.  I've read that Hendrix is one of Smith's biggest influences. This isn't the kind of the music that Hall of Fame voters generally gravitate towards, and they've never gotten much support from Rolling Stone, but they represent rock music that lives outside of the mainstream, and maybe occasionally visits. That's an important part of rock music though.

The Beastie Boys. Has any band ever had a more unlikely career arc? Starting out as an average hardcore punk band (nowhere near as good as say, Bad Brains, Black Flag or Minor Threat), they transformed themselves into the biggest hip-hop group ever (at the time) in the mid '80s with Licensed To Ill, using Run-D.M.C.'s template of Rick Rubin production, spare beats, loud guitars and cool samples. They then created a mind blowing album of hundreds of layers of samples on Paul's Boutique. For Check Your Head, the put everything together - hip-hop jams, hard rock anthems, hardcore punk rants, and even added some really funky instrumental tracks. They became one of the few bands who could unite hipster, suburban jocks, punks and hip-hoppers, not to mention the Lollapalooza crowd. Along the way, they created the template for The Jerky Boys and a million morning radio shows (for better or worse) with "Cookie Puss," made fake country music as Country Mike, shot some iconic music videos, and went from being drunken brats to global activists, without losing any of their cool. They made it cool to care about a tiny country that many Americans never heard of on the other side of the world. And an unbelievable catalog of incredible songs.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of my favorite bands ever. Like The Beastie Boys, influenced by hardcore punk, hip-hop and funk, but coming from an entirely different place (the Hollywood Hills). Also like the B-Boys, they started out as pranksters who weren't necessarily a band you'd take too seriously, but they grew up over the years, and their writing got deeper. Everything came together on Bloodsugarsexmagik, as perfect of an album as anyone's ever done. I can't wait to hear their new album, which will hopefully come out later this year.

No one works in the service of the music like Emmylou Harris. She always seems to know the right thing to do, the right inflection, to make a song hit the exact right note. She's a great writer, but if she doesn't have anything, she has no problem using other people's materials. It's not about her ego. She's a great collaborator: of course she came up with country-rock legend Gram Parsons, and then went on to become a legend in her own right. But still, it seems that she doesn't mind singing backup if she likes the song or the artist enough. And talk about aging gracefully, she seems to get better with each year. I think her older friends prefer her '70s or '80s albums, but my favorite is the one where I discovered her: Wrecking Ball.

Motorhead. I think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be, above all else, about influence. Few bands have influenced more groups than Motorhead. Heavy metal would be a different genre without Motorhead. Check out their documentary, it's a big "exhibit A" for why they should be inducted.

Of course, there are lots of other artists who I think should get in, including Black Flag, Warren Zevon, LL Cool J, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, The MC5, The Replacements, X, Cheap Trick and Peter Gabriel to name a few. So, tune in next year for more discussions on this topic!

PATTY GRIFFIN - DOWNTOWN CHURCH - TIE FOR #11

There's not a lot of gospel music in my collection, but when I find something (or someone) I like, I really like it (or them).  My second favorite album of 2010 was Mavis Staples' You Are Not Alone, and another album that almost made my top 10 was Patty Griffin's Downtown Church.

Patty actually is already in my top 10, as she sings on Robert Plant's Band Of Joy album (and she's also in his touring band). And like Band Of Joy, Downtown Church was produced by the great Buddy Miller.

Like Buddy, Patty is part of the sort of "parallel" Nashville scene (I don't really want to use the "a-word"). Artists like Lucinda, Emmylou, Earle and Miller, who are surely country and yet are ignored by the country music establishment. This album is more gospel based than most of her albums, and in fact was recorded in a church in downtown Nashville.

There are a few guests here: both Millers (Buddy and his equally talented wife, Julie Miller),  Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin all pitch in, but it's Patty's show.   It's a combination of originals and covers, including Hank Williams' "House Of Gold" (which Willie Nelson also covered on his new album, Country Music), and traditional songs like "Death's Got A Warrant" and "If I Had My Way." Yes, these songs have been done before.  But to my ears, they haven't been overdone, and in fact, I think that Patty does a service by keeping them alive for a new audience to hear. Beyond that, she makes them her own.  She has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard, she can sing the phone book and I'd probably like it. But singing these incredible songs of faith and love... it actually is "divine."

LILITH FAIR ADDS THE BANGLES, THE GO-GOS, LORETTA, NORAH, HEART, KELLY CLARKSON

I have always been a fan of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair. I went all three years, and saw some great artists, including Sarah herself, Tracy Chapman, The Indigo Girls, Missy Elliot, Morcheeba, Sheryl Crow and The Pretenders, among others. As I've mentioned, this year's lineup includes Sarah, Sheryl and The Indigo Girls, as well as Emmylou Harris, Mary J. Blige and Miranda Lambert.  Now they've also announced The Bangles, The Go-Gos, Loretta Lynn, Norah Jones, Heart, Kelly Clarkson, The Courtyard Hounds (aka Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the The Dixie Chicks), Cat Power, Sia, The Gossip and Beth Orton, among others. Of course not every artist plays every city, but odds are that every show will have a great lineup.

LILITH FAIR NAMES SARAH, SHERYL, MARY J., EMMYLOU, MIRANDA AND MORE

I've written about how The Lilith Fair is going to return in the summer of 2010. Their official site announced some of the artists who will be participating in the tour (it has traditionally been Sarah McLachlan headlining, maybe one other act on the entire tour, and other artists on select dates but not the whole tour. Pretty diverse group: Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, The Indigo Girls, Jill Scott, Miranda Lambert and Tegan & Sara, to name a few.

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.

BEST OF '09: BUDDY & JULIE MILLER'S WRITTEN IN CHALK

I've already written about Buddy & Julie Miller's album, Written In Chalk.

It's too bad that more people don't know about this remarkable couple. Julie has been keeping a lower profile lately, but Buddy has been playing in John Fogerty's band, (after having played in Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' touring band, Robert returning the favor by duetting with Buddy on a cover of Mel Tillis' "What You Gonna Do Leroy" on this album). He also toured with Emmylou Harris, Patti Griffin (both of whom guest on the album as well) and Shawn Colvin on the "Three Girls and Their Buddy" tour. He had a health scare during that tour, but I saw him perform with Fogerty's band recently, and he looked and sounded great. Anyway, Buddy and Julie never get a lot of hype, I doubt they'd want it anyway, but you should check out their solo albums as well as the ones they record together, including this one.

Other Best of '09 albums: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life , The Cocktail Slippers' Saint Valentine's Day Massacre , Rancid's Let The Dominoes Fall, N.A.S.A.'s Spirit Of Apollo , Levon Helm's Electric Dirt

SEEGER'S 90TH

The show (not where this picture was taken, obviously) was great. We got there a bit late and missed some performances, but it was pretty awesome. For me, the highlights were: Roger McGuinn with the guys from Band Of Horses doing "Turn! Turn! Turn!," Ben Harper with his mom, his aunt and Tom Morello doing his own "Gather 'Round The Stone" and Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello doing "The Ghost Of Tom Joad." There were other great performances by Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Warren Haynes... everyone was pretty great, actually. Pete's grandson Tao Rodridguez-Seeger was inspiring, and I think he will carry on his grandfather's music and message in the decades to come. Shout out to Oscar The Grouch who duetted with Tom Chapin on a song called "Garbage" (what else?). It was amazing to see MSG standing ovations to the likes of Joan Baez and Ritchie Havens.

And every time Pete Seeger was on stage was a highlight, to say the least. He is an amazing figure. It was odd to see him feted at a venue like Madison Square Garden in such a slick (but not cold) production. With him, it's not really about being a star, although he's certainly used his power to draw people. But it's about getting people to sing... more than it is about singing to them. That's a powerful thing.

The picture I've posted here (for the second time) was taken probably 35 years ago (thanks to Richard for hooking me up with it). I'm the kid in the Spider-Man shirt by the tree. I showed it to my dad, and he told me that it kind of embodies Pete Seeger. We were at some park, and Pete had a gig scheduled somewhere in the park. So he was walking to the gig, saw some kids, and grabbed his banjo and sang a bunch of songs before going on his way. None of the kids probably had much of an idea who he was.

But that's who he is. Not every artist can be like Pete, or should be like Pete. There are rare cases of artists who seem immune to temptation: Ani DiFranco is one, Ian McKaye another. If you're an artist, you don't have to try to be like that. But you should keep artists like that towards the front of your mind -- I think they act as the sort of angel on your shoulder, your conscious, to keep you from losing yourself into the "bubble" (as Tina Fey puts it) of stardom. There's being famous... and then there's being taken seriously. And if you do the latter, who knows the former may happen along the way.

OK, time for me to check in. God bless Pete Seeger.

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.

PETE SEEGER TO HIT THE BIG NINE-OH!

Pete Seeger is the real deal, period. He's always been about connecting with people, and not just about making a buck. He's super humble, and usually avoids all showbiz type stuff. My first few concerts were performances by Pete in parks, and it made a huge impression on me. He turns 90 on May 3, and there's going to be a huge concert at Madison Square Garden to celebrate. According to Backstreests, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Eddie Vedder, John Mellencamp will all perform. It's hard to imagine that Pete would be into this - it seems kind of more high profile than he is comfortable with. On the other hand, he just performed with Bruce Springsteen at Barack Obama's inauguaration, that was pretty grand. He performed right before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his "I Had A Dream" speech. I bet Pete never thought he'd perform for the first African-American president's inauguration. I definitely want to catch this concert. Also, the concert will benefit the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is close to Pete's heart.

TONS OF COOL NEW MUSIC

Lots of great albums came out this week: I'll write about them individually another time. But a quick rundown: 

Solomon Burke's Like A Fire: Mr. Burke's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago seemed to re-ignite his career, and he's done three great albums with three great producers: Joe Henry, Don Was and Buddy Miller.  This one was produced by Steve Jordan of Keith Richards' s X-Pensive Winos (he's also played with tons of other artists). Ben Harper and keb'mo are among the guests on the album. 

I've always been a bit skeptical of My Morning Jacket. But a pal of mine gave me a burned copy of their new album, Evil Urges, and I dug it on first listen, and decided to buy a copy. 

James Hunter (age 45 1/2 according to his liner note) is one of my favorite new artists of recent years - I can't believe this is the first time I'm writing about him. His last album, People Gonna Talk, was excellent, and I really like the new one, The Hard Way, already. His music is unaffected by pretty much anything that happened in the last, say, four decades. The British Invasion, punk, new wave, hip-hop ... none of that figures into what he does. He's like a Sam Cooke disciple with a mean guitar.  

Jakob Dylan has just released his solo debut, Seeing Things, which was produced by Rick Rubin. I was surprised to see a Jakob Dylan solo album - it's not like The Wallflowers is a democracy - but without keyboardist Rami Jaffe (who has been playing with The Foo Fighters lately), it has a different sound. 

Last, but definitely not least, is Emmylou Harris ' new album, All I Intended To Be. (I listed this in reverse alphabetical order.) Very different from her more modern-sounding recent albums. This one reunites her with her ex-husband Brian Ahern, who produced her first 10 or so albums. A downbeat and sad album, but still beautiful. My favorite will always be Wrecking Ball, but this is a good one, too, and I just love Emmylou.  

Next week, my wallet will get a breather - yes I know the Coldplay album comes out, I like them, but I don't think I'll buy that album. 

THIS WEEK'S COOL RELEASES

#1 on my list: the Into The Wild soundtrack, which is essentially an Eddie Vedder solo album. The film, directed by Sean Penn, is (I think) based on a true story about a guy who left life behind to live in the wilderness. It would be worth seeing without the music, but Eddie's music makes it an "event" movie (at least according to my definition of the term). I heard a rumor that the other Pearl Jam guys were pissed that Eddie did a solo record, but I doubt that that rumor is true: Pearl Jam has been kept vital thanks to the fact that all the other guys have had solo projects. I've always been a huge fan of the band and of Eddie, although he seems a bit obsessed with being accepted by indie-rock fans, which is a bit silly because (a) most of them aren't going to like him/Pearl Jam based on critieria that has nothing to do with music and (b) most of the big indie rock bands of the moment (and few of them last more than a few moments) are lame. Yes, Fugazi were an indie band - but they put an incredible amount of effort into their music: most indie bands sound like they can't be bothered. Anyway, I'm really excited to hear this album.

There's a DVD coming out featuring segments from Johnny Cash's TV show from the '70s, including performances by Louis Armstrong, Neil Young and Ray Charles. That will be worth whatever they charge for it.

There's an(other) Emmylou Harris box set coming out. I remember one came out over ten years ago: but this one is more about rarities, with some of her album tracks thrown in. I became a huge fan with her 1995 classic, Wrecking Ball, she is truly one of the greats. I'll probably have to splurge on this one.

There's an(other) Nuggets box set coming out. The first one, of course, was an expanded version of the 1972 compilation, that collected out-of-print garage rock songs from the '60s. The box set re-release came out in 1998 - Rhino Records did an amazing job with this, giving lots of people (myself included) a great education in garage rock. They soon followed with Nuggets II - the first one was all American bands, II was all non-American bands (mainly from the U.K.) and that was an awesome collection as well. Two years ago they put out Children Of Nuggets, which was basically garage rock from the '80s. I still haven't gotten that one: box sets cost way too much. It's on the top of my list. This week, they're releasing San Francisco Nuggets, which seems more hippie music than garage rock, so I don't think I'll pick that one up.

Here's one not to miss: Mary Gauthier's new album. Her last album, Mercy Now, was extremely powerful. The woman knows the blues. Actually, I'm looking forward to her album as much as I am Eddie Vedder's. She's not well known, but rest assured, based on her last album, she belongs in No Expiration.

Oh yeah, and a new album of songs from The Simpsons. It always amazes me that they come up with such catchy songs for the show. But then again, it is like, the best comedy of all time.