posted by Tom Lane at 12:37 PM
Of all the legendary early Rock and Rollers, no one had the ego of Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard may have been more outlandish, but Jerry Lee was the wildest. I mean, his nickname was "The Killer". But Jerry Lee Lewis backed up all his claims of greatness by his actions. His live shows were as electric as his Sun era recordings. Comfortable singing anything, whether it was Rock, Pop, Country, R&B , Gospel, the "Killer" took on all genres and won. His cover versions were often radical reworkings that only a genius like him could pull off. Most likely the most influential Rock and Roll piano player. Still, as his famous in studio conversation with Sam Phillips showed, he wasn't always sure about his own place in the world of Rock music. The genre made him famous, but Jerry Lee was a religious man as well and spent those Sun Records days wondering if he should be playing "the devil's music".
When the Rock hits dried up, after his scandalous marriage to his 13 year old cousin, Jerry turned to Country music and recorded just as many fabulous songs and albums in that genre as he did with his 50's Rock ones. Jerry Lee never lost that wild man image even in the Country genre. In 2022 he was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
It should surprise no one that Jerry Lee was a survivor. He defeated health scares, scandals and his own demons. He was the last surviving member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 1986. And he's one of only 15 artists inducted into both the Country Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Jerry Lee's influence was vast. He was the wildman of Rock & Roll. The one and only "Killer". A piano playing ball of lightning every time he took the stage, who managed to capture all that energy into his studio records too.
Below are some of my favorite Jerry Lee albums:
posted by Tom Lane at 10:03 AM
Greatest Halloween Songs (2022 Edition)
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posted by Tom Lane at 8:06 AM
Art Laboe, who died at the age of 97 on October 7th, is rightly hailed as a pioneering DJ. He was one of the first to play "Rock and Roll" records in the 50's, one of the first to let listeners dedicate a song on air and even more importantly, through his DJ shows at drive-in eateries in Southern California help end segregation by attracting Black, White and Latino crowds. Laboe's various syndicated radio show got played throughout the U.S., but he was based in California.
But Laboe was a pioneer in another field. The catalog compilation album. In 1959, on his own record label called Original Sound Record Inc., he released a 12 song album called Oldies but Goodies Vol. 1. The phrase "oldies but goodies" was likely coined but definitely popularized by Laboe. The 12 songs on the album were recent hits, but Laboe saw potential in compiling hits of recent years on an album. The surprise was that the album was a hit. Peaking at #12 in 1959 and staying on the album chart for an amazing 183 weeks. More albums followed as did similarly themed ones.
When news of Laboe's death was announced I thought about those albums. But I also thought of how influential they were and still are today. Those Oldies but Goodies albums were the precursor to the K-tel comps that started in the mid-60's and really took off in the 70's. They were also a forerunner for the Now series that began in the UK in the 80's. In reality, the success of Laboe's comps inspired tons of various resissues labels like Rhino.
Laboe kept broadcasting his weekly show until the last weeks of his life. Spreading the potency of "Rock and Roll" every Sunday night to loyal listeners and any new ones that he could convert with the power of another spin of "In The Still of the Night".
posted by Tom Lane at 2:52 PM
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posted by Tom Lane at 1:31 PM
As the title of her 1970 albums said, Loretta Lynn Writes 'Em and Sings 'Em. And she did both as well as any Country singer. Her greatest songs, whether she wrote them or not, had a frankness about them that you rarely heard in a Country female singer-songwriter in the 60's and 70's. Most of these were often aimed at other women. Classic stay away from my man titles like "You Ain't Woman Enough", "You Ain't Woman Enough" and my personal fave "Fist City". She took on issues that women talked about with "Rated X" and "The Pill". But she also sang about her life growing up in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky with "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Blue Kentucky Girl". Her duets with Conway Twitty were dynamic because of the chemistry between the two. Just listen to the half of their immortal Top 10 hit from 1978, "You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly".
Loretta was still making viable records into the 21st Century. Her 2004 album, Van Lear Rose, was Produced by Jack White with all the songs written or co-written by Lynn. It was a critically acclaimed triumph that finished third in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll. She released four other fine albums after that including 2021's Still Woman Enough.
Loretta Lynn was the “Queen of CountryMusic”. An inspiration to tons of female Country singers who sang frankly about their relationships, their lives growing up in a small town and what it's like to be a woman in a world that men want to dominate.
posted by Tom Lane at 9:27 AM
posted by Tom Lane at 8:56 AM
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know
Beyonce - All Night
Billie Eilish - Bad Guy
Bruno Mars - Locked Out Of Heaven
Bruno Mars - 24K Magic
Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
Charli XCX - Boom Clap
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Janelle Monae - Tightrope
Jason Isbell - If We Were Vampires
Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow
Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn
Kendrick Lamar - Humble
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Lil Nas X w/Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road
Lizzo - Juice
Lizzo - Truth Hurts
Lorde - Royals
M83 - Midnight City
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk
Maxwell - Lake By The Ocean
Miguel - Adorn
Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
Miranda Lambert - The House That Built Me
Paramore - Hard Times
Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
PSY - Gangnam Style
Rihanna - Diamonds
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
St. Vincent - Digital Witness
Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July
Sunny Sweeney - From A Table Away
Taylor Swift - Lover
Taylor Swift - Shake It Off
The War On Drugs - Red Eyes
Adele - 21
Adele - 25
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Ashley Monroe - Like A Rose
Beyonce - Lemonade
Billie Eilish - When We Fall Asleep
Brandy Clark - 12 Stories
D'Angelo - Black Messiah
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Eric Church - Mr. Misunderstood
Haim - Days Are Gone
Janelle Monae - Archandroid
Jason Isbell - Southeastern
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
Jason Isbell - Nashville Sound
Jenny Lewis - Voyager
Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
Kamasi Washington - Epic
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
Lee Ann Womack - Way I'm Livin'
Maxwell - blackSummers'night
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Miranda Lambert - Platinum
Miranda Lambert - Weight Of These Wings
Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
Pistol Annies - Hell On Wheels
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Rhiannon Giddens - Tomorrow Is My Turn
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
St. Vincent - Masseduction
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
Taylor Swift - 1989
The Highwomen - The Highwomen
The National - High Violet
The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions
tune-yards - whokill
Vampire Weekend - Contra
William Tyler - Modern Country
posted by Tom Lane at 8:21 AM
