WFF Wish List

Posted on by May 1, 2011
2

So The Winnipeg Folk Festival added Lucinda Williams, which is cool, I guess, but if that’s the last of the “big” names to be announced, all I can do is yawn. Now, don’t get me wrong, I live for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and would go even if there wasn’t anybody new to see, but thinking back on the many, many great artists who I’ve had the great fortune to discover there, I have to believe that there’s more out there than what we’re seeing this year.

I know that our AD works hard, and it’s easy to program a festival from the comfort of your couch, so, for your unrealistic pleasure, here’s a short list of the many artists who would all be MUCH cooler than just about anything at this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival (except Chuck Prophet, whom you can see in some dude’s living room, which will be much cooler than the festival, anyway…)

Where are they: (aka why the hell not?)
The Lowest of the Low (not at ANY Canadian Folk Festivals? Time for a new booking agent!)
NQ Arbuckle (playing Trout Forest)
Drive-By Truckers
Rodney Crowell
Sunparlour Players
The Beauties
Patty Griffin
The Damnwells
James McMurtry
Christina Martin
Brandi Carlile (playing Edmonton)
Middle Brother (or even just Deer Tick would do)
The Head & The Heart (playing Calgary)
Gurf Morlix & the Blaze Foley tribute/movie
Paul Kelly
Robbie Fulks
Jesse Malin
Madison Violet
The Wooden Sky
The Tallest Man on Earth
Shannon Lyon
Matthew Ryan
Mumford & Sons
Shannon McNally
Band of Horses
Hatcher-Briggs
Wintersleep
Griffin House
Brian MacMillan
Lynn Miles
Jack Marks
Jeremy Messersmith
Kim Richey
Jon Dee Graham
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Bill Chambers
Ponderosa
Ray Lamontagne
Dave McCann (for Jaine)
Ryan Adams
Dave Alvin
Bobby Bare Jr.
Lucero
Barney Bentall & The Grand Cariboo Opry (how cool would that be?)
Bobby Long
Bon Iver
Sarah Borges
Buck 65
Peter Case
The Cave Singers
Cory Chisel
Joshua Cockerill
Rose Cousins
Will Kimbrough/Daddy
The Decemberists
Radney Foster
Jeffrey Foucault
Eilen Jewell
Chris Knight
Old 97’s
Old Crow Medicine Show
Ox
Phosphorescent
Richmond Fontaine
Romantica
Bob Schneider
Langhorne Slim
Slobberbone
Frank Turner
Washboard Hank

 

Welcome back any time:
Elliott BROOD
The Sadies
Del Barber
Jimmy LaFave
Lyle Lovett
Oh Susanna
David Francey
Nick Lowe
Nathan
Jesse DeNatale
Buddy Miller
Alejandro Escovedo
Calexico
CR Avery
Guy Clark (playing Edmonton)
Todd Snider
The Gourds (yeah, right!)
The Handsome Family
Skydiggers
Jim White

Still wishing, still hoping:
Tom Waits
Gillian Welch (playing Vancouver)
Robbie Robertson
Bruce Springsteen (for Stu)
Leonard Cohen
Kris Kristofferson
Paul Westerberg

And, just to prove that I’m some idiot making unrealistic requests from the comfort of my living room, I present: Only in my dreams – can’t wait for the big Folk Fest in the sky:
Willie P Bennett
John Bottomley
Townes Van Zandt
Johnny Cash
Gram Parsons
Blaze Foley
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Billy Cowsill
Paul Quarrington
Lee Hazlewood

It could be worse, we could have to sit through:
Neil Young solo, playing Le Noise crap
Bob Dylan
Crash Test Dummies

What’s on your wish list? Got any thoughts on my insane ramblings? Please leave a comment!

April 24, 2011

Posted on by April 24, 2011
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It’s Easter Sunday, so we’re celebrating with the family (Carter came along to co-host) and playing songs about the two things that Easter is all about (Jesus and food.) We’ve also got some great new music, new again music, and previews of some great upcoming shows.

playlist
part 1
part 2

Episode #387 Sunday, April 17, 2011

Posted on by April 23, 2011
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It’s Record Store Day/Damnwells weekend, so we’re out of town and lovin’ it, but not to worry, we’ve got your usual Sunday goodness pre-recorded for your listening pleasure. We got off to a start with some Tom Waits songs, for no real reason, before settling in for a good long set of rockin’ good tunes. We also preview a few great upcoming shows including the Japan benefit featuring Keri Latimer, Greg Macpherson, and Ridley Bent, as well as the CD release for the new album by Matt Epp, and next week’s return of an old friend.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Romi Mayes and The Temporarily Employed – Ordinary Sunday – The Living Room Sessions – CDN – WPG

Tom Waits – 9th & Hennepin – Rain Dogs

Tom Waits – Come on up to the House – Mule Variations

Neko Case – Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis – New Coat of Paint — Waits Tribute

Sarah Borges And The Broken Singles – Blind Love – Female Tribute To Tom Waits – Vol.2

Shawn Colvin – Get Out Of This House – A Few Small Repairs

Lucinda Williams – Right in Time – Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

 

2:30 – 3:00 pm

 

Rodney Crowell – Earthbound – Fate’s Right Hand

Blackie & The Rodeo Kings – Sometimes It Comes Easy – Let’s Frolic Again – CDN

Ron Sexsmith – Hard Bargain – Retriever – CDN

Ron Sexsmith – Wishing Wells – Retriever – CDN

Nick Lowe – Cruel to Be Kind – Labour of Lust

Patrick Park – Here We Are – Everyone’s in Everyone

 

3:00 – 3:30 pm

 

Keri Latimer – Mountain Road – CBC Radio 2’s Song Quest: Road Songs – CDN – WPG

Greg Macpherson – Wide Turn – Maintenance – CDN – WPG

RIdley Bent – Arlington – Buckles & Boots – CDN – WPG

Nathan – Gasoline – Jimson Weed – CDN – WPG

Ridley Bent – Suicidewinder – Blam – CDN – WPG

Greg Macpherson – First Class – Mr. Invitation – CDN – WPG

 

3:30 – 4:00 pm

 

Matt Epp – Cover Me – Safe or Free – CDN – WPG

Matt Epp – She’s High Water – Orphan Horse – CDN – WPG

Matt Epp – You’ll Find Me Alone – You’ll Find Me Alone – CDN – WPG

Dan Walsh – Smokomotive – Virtuoso – CDN

Brock Zeman – Greasy Skillet Boys – Live @ The Acoustic Grill – CDN

Abigail Lapell – Beautiful – Great Survivor – CDN

John Bottomley – Winter Gone – The Healing Dream – CDN

The Damnwells & Harper Blynn

Posted on by April 1, 2015
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After several long years of superfandom, I finally got the opportunity to see The Damnwells live. The band, these days, consists primarily of singer/songwriter/guitarist/god Alex Dezen, and rather than assembling a band himself, he went out and hired himself a great live band, Harper Blynn, to open the shows and back him up as the Damnwells. We made the trek to see the show at The Hub in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and then at the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis.

download Harper Blynn’s set – April 16, 2011 – Cedar Falls (started a bit late, because it took a few songs to realize how awesome they were)

download The Damnwells set – April 16, 2011 – Cedar Falls

download Harper Blynn’s set – April 17, 2011 – Minneapolis

download The Damnwells set – April 17, 2011 – Minneapolis

 

Cedar Falls videos:

She Goes Around:

Golden Days:

Minneapolis videos:

I Am a Leaver:

hilarious intro to the last song of the show and the tour:

I Will Keep the Bad Things from You:

Steel Belted Radio – April 21, 2011

Posted on by May 5, 2016
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This past weekend’s trip down south to see the Damnwells and take in Record Store Day was pretty amazing, and we can’t help but relive it by listening to some live recordings and pulling out the new vinyl we bought on Record Store Day. Lots of good stuff to behold. Also, we’ve got a whole whack of great new music.

playlist
part 1
part 2

April 10, 2011

Posted on by April 22, 2011
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This one felt like such a busy show, yet we only managed to play 4 artists in 2 hours – I don’t think we’ve ever done that before! We had to pay tribute to the late, great John Bottomley, who left us this week, but left behind a lot of great music. RIP. We look forward to my trip to finally see the Damnwells live, and we were joined in-studio by Taylor Ashton of hot up-and-coming roots band Fish & Bird to chat about their great new record and upcoming shows.

playlist
part 1 (John Bottomley tribute)
part 2 (Damnwells preview)
part 3 (Taylor Ashton – Fish & Bird)

April 17, 2011

Posted on by April 15, 2011
Reply

It’s Record Store Day/Damnwells weekend, so we’re out of town and lovin’ it, but not to worry, we’ve got your usual Sunday goodness pre-recorded for your listening pleasure. We got off to a start with some Tom Waits songs, for no real reason, before settling in for a good long set of rockin’ good tunes. We also preview a few great upcoming shows including the Japan benefit featuring Keri Latimer, Greg Macpherson, and Ridley Bent, as well as the CD release for the new album by Matt Epp, and next week’s return of an old friend.

playlist
part 1
part 2
part 3

Let’s bring Depression out of the shadows

Posted on by April 12, 2011
1

After reading some emails in response to John Bottomley’s untimely death by suicide, as well as the brilliant piece on Roots Music Canada I’m even more moved and inspired. Bottomley’s death had that sad, silent feeling to it that he’d been claimed by the awful disease that is depression, and I was sorry to find out that my fears were true.

I’ve spent a lot of time down that long, lonely road that eventually took John. I’ve never talked publicly about that. The nature of depression is that you feel totally alone, but the reality is that those of us afflicted, clearly, are not.

The RMC post says that for artists “depression is almost an occupational hazard,” and that is probably true. It certainly feeds into much of the great art that is created. I talk to a lot of great musicians who kind of dance around the subject, but don’t often get into how they’ve been affected and how it comes out in their art.

Personally, I’d like to have John Bottomley’s death lead to something productive, something meaningful, and something that has the potential to do a lot of good. His last CD contains the inscription, “Music has a healing power.” Let’s have some musicians and music lovers channel that power. John doesn’t have to be the poster boy, by any means, but the impetus for something good.

Perhaps if John knew that he wasn’t alone and many of us knew EXACTLY what he was going through, things would have been different.
Perhaps if he had a forum to discuss his struggles and put a voice to it, he would feel better
Perhaps if he knew that telling his story might help someone else who was struggling, he would have felt that he was doing something important (which, of course, he already was, but in the thankless job of a brilliant, under-appreciated Canadian songwriter, he obviously lost track of that.)

Sharing these stories helps remove the stigma, gets this HUGELY widespread problem out in the open, and has the great potential to greatly impact the person telling it and to reach someone who might feel all alone.

I’d really like to be part of something that gets talented and creative people (and at least one non-talented, non-creative, but very passionate campus radio dj) talking about this. I think that knowing that some of us have some public visibility and have managed to “succeed” (survive) with depression might help someone, somewhere.

Can I (we?) do something? A website? Videos? Write something?

If you want to steal that idea and run with it, please do. I’m glad to help. If you have ideas or assistance to offer, let’s talk.  I’ll keep thinking on it and try to get something going if nobody beats me to it.

Hopefully, if there is any good that can come out of a loss like this, it is that maybe we can give a little bit more visibility to this deadly , all-too-common condition which claims so many, yet is so rarely spoken about.

Episode #386 Sunday, April 10, 2011

Posted on by April 11, 2011
1

This one felt like such a busy show, yet we only managed to play 4 artists in 2 hours – I don’t think we’ve ever done that before! We had to pay tribute to the late, great John Bottomley, who left us this week, but left behind a lot of great music. RIP. We look forward to my trip to finally see the Damnwells live, and we were joined in-studio by Taylor Ashton of hot up-and-coming roots band Fish & Bird to chat about their great new record and upcoming shows.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00pm – 2:30pm

Christina Martin – Subject to Change – I Can Too – CDN

John Bottomley – You Lose and You Gain – Blackberry – CDN

John Bottomley – With a Little Help from Heaven – The Healing Dream – CDN

John Bottomley – Lion Is the Child – Raggle Taggle – CDN

John Bottomley – The Way I Feel – Songs with the Ornamental Hermits – CDN

John Bottomley – Klee Wyck – Blackberry – CDN

2:30 – 3:00 pm

 

John Bottomley – She Is Mine – Blackberry – CDN

John Bottomley – Sarah Whitehead (The Bank Nun) – Songs with the Ornamental Hermits – CDN

John Bottomley – The Fire of Love – The Healing Dream – CDN

Angela & Alex Dezen – Coming Home Tonight – Sweet Water Child ~ Lullabies For Getty

The Damnwells – I Will Keep the bad Things from You – Bastards of the Beat

The Damnwells – She’s The New York City Skyline – demo

3:00 – 3:30 pm

 

The Damnwells – Everything – One Last Century

The Damnwells – She Goes Around – No One Listens to the Band Anymore

The Damnwells – The Sound – Bastards of the Beat

The Damnwells – Golden Days – Air Stereo

Fish & Bird – Well Run Dry – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN

3:30 – 4:00 pm

Taylor Ashton (Fish & Bird) interview

Fish & Bird – Winnipeg – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN

Fish & Bird – Circle Tune – Every Whisper Is a Shout across the Void – CDN