EVERYBODY SHOULD DO A COUNTRY ALBUM!

I wasn't going to post this, but after watching the

the grammies, which as usual were fairly boring,
I have to admit Kid Rock and Carrie Underwood

were pretty rocking. It's always hard to tell how

bored the crowd is. I just thought it was fun to hear

a current country singer sing about Cuervo

and having had a such a wild night, they couldn't

remember having done certain things. And

I ain't talking about Kid Rock. It's great

to see Alison Krauss and Robert Plant

get so many awards.

This brings me to my post about Marianne Faithfull.

As I was excitedly looking at my tickets for her show

at City Winery in NYC March 27th, & 28th,

which by the way there's still some tickets left,

I was thinking that she should do a

country album. After all, she spent enough

time soaking in semi-country fumes off of

Mick and Keith all those years.

Then I remembered

she kind of did!

"No Regrets" was her comeback album of sorts.

In the UK it was called "Dreamin My Dreams"

"No Regrets" was the recent reissue with a few

extra tracks. Those extra tracks were pretty

damn great. She had written a weird country

song called "That Was The Day", with

some strange lyrics...

"that was the day that the coke came to nashville,

that was the day I laughed till I cried.. "

Not sure what exactly that means. I think it makes

sense when you're dope-sick.

Marianne also covered

Kitty Wells "It Wasn't God That Made Honky

Tonk Angels" The other stand out tracks are

Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonite" , "Dreamin

My Dreams of You" and Waylon Jennings song,

"This Time".

This was her return to work after 10 hard years

of drug problems after her break-up with Mick.

I've known alot of people with heroin problems,

and it takes a long time to feel somewhat

normal. M.J. sounds a bit unsteady and slow,

like her internal rhythm is off. I think once she

got herself more steady, and tapped into her

inner sense of humor, and anger, M.F. struck

gold in her more recent work. You can find

her best tracks on "A Perfect Stranger...the

Island Anthology" and for the more adventurous

"Kissin Time" has her paired with Beck, Billy

Corgan and others.

Now that she's emotionally digested most of

the crap from her youth, her voice would

be perfect for a real country album.

I'm thinking a producer like T-Bone Burnett

or even better, DANIEL LANOIS! Look

what he did with Dylan's "Time Out Of Mind",

he knows how to deal with a craggy voice-

create a real moody noirish feel.

Just imagine....steel guitars, some slap

bass. Heaven!

Marianne...I'll be near the front row

at City Winery...gazing longingly at you

on March 27th blowing you air-kisses.

Go buy her new album "Easy Come, Easy Go"

xxxx

GEORGE JONES SONG BOOK

Cool score yesterday at a Used Bookstore- This is why it's great to check out your local used
book stores. I found the GEORGE JONES
Very Best songbook, along with a biography of
Gene Vincent, which I will be reviewing shortly.
These songs are early 1980's era George Jones.
I usually don't go past the 80's but George is
one of the few artists who still maintained the
creative quality in the later years. I strongly
urge you to get the Burn Your Playhouse Down
and The Bradley Sessions, which were both
recorded at the same time. The duets with
Keith Richards are obviously the best, but
tracks with Marty Stuart are pretty damn good
too. George (like Keith) has a unique voice
that just gets better with age. Please Keith,
if you do make another solo album, can it
be country? PLEASE! Back to George...
the best songs in this book "I Always get lucky
with you", and She thinks I care" and "Say It's
Not You" are all simple, mostly 3 chord
affairs. Emotional, in an understated way.
Perfect for 2:00 am drinking.

You know what else would be really perfect too?
Being able to get RFD-TV in my neighborhood,
with Time Warner Cable.
Marty Stuart has a show on, and
even though I'm in the NYC area, I'd
still like to be able to get Rural America's
Most Important Network, too! I could
be watching the Praire Farm Report
right now.

BUDDY HOLLY'S LAST TRIP FEBRUARY 3, 1959

As an artist that grew up, in and around
country music (in Texas) yet became a
founding father of rock'n'roll,
Buddy was a huge influence on
both genres of music.
Don't let this be a sad day.
Let Keith Richards chear you up.



Also, if you're in New York City, check out the
Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame Annex, which has
Buddy's suit with a pair of pretty cool
black shoes displayed on a dummy. Then,
walk down to 5th avenue and the corner of
west 9th street, where Buddy lived with his
wife for the last 6 months of his life, and
just imagine him running in to Bob Dylan
in a couple of years.