Joanna Newsom's EP with the Ys Street Band

Joanna Newsom made an EP with her Ys Street Band in 2007, the end of the middle of her recording sequence. Her vocal chords had developed a medical condition and her voice was changing, though it sounds great. The CD or download is simply titled Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP (Drag City 336).

This is a three-song compilation but it's all good. Her and the band get into a kind of alt folk thing, and it's lovely. Her harp playing is well-healed and stunning, her vocal style and musical outlook are like nobody else out there. Her songs are things of wonder. Now I'm not just saying that. I am not kidding here. The highlight is a 13-minute version of her "Cosmia," which includes some great instrumental parts and a kind of alt-folk jam. Whoever is playing the musical saw (sounds like) adds just the right element. This song in this version is worth the price of the EP.

Wonderful music! A download is around $3. Spring for it.

Joanna Newsom and Her Voice, Her Harp

When I first heard Joanna Newsom on one of her earlier albums, she hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. The Milk-Eyed Mender was pretty much her, her unusual voice and wonderful harp playing. Her voice sounded like she was much much younger than she was, but it was completely distinctive. The harp? Very nice. And she wrote songs that had whimsy and substance at the same time.

From what I understand, she developed a condition in her vocal cords that needed attention and she was forced to stop singing for some time. She is, happy to say, back with a slightly changed voice (it no longer sounds as young) and with her creative powers at a razor-keen sharpness.

She has a new 3-CD (or LP or download) box set of her songs, Have One on Me (Drag City). It has a classic quality. I mean she addresses the song form as art, not pop. In that she is like Joni Mitchell at her best. And like Joni, her music is intensely personal and romantic in that widest sense. There the similarities end.

The box set gives you a big helping of Joanna's songs, her harp, sometimes her piano playing, and sensitive story-weaving. Ryan Francesconi put together the arrangements and they are very appropriate. Strings and such are there as needed, nicely voiced, sparse, never intruding, never too dense to obscure that Newsom vocal and instrumental charm.

She is beyond classification. Singer-songwriter? Yes. Alternative rock or something? I guess. But what she does is art song for today, if I would venture to say (which I obviously would, since I just did!) There is nothing like Joanna Newsom out there. It is music to live with happily. But it isn't what anybody else is doing. No, not Norah Jones. Joanna Newsom.

The box set is available at a terrific price. Google her and you'll find it straight off. I recommend it completely. Some terrific songs can be yours. This is real musical talent!

Ike Turner, Carl Perkins, Joanna Newsom

Originally posted on December 26-28, 2007

Everybody knows Tina Turner and lots of people remember when it was Ike and Tina, but before there was all that, Ike Turner was an important leader-arranger and soloist in the blues and r&b genres. There is a CD of the recordings he made under his own name and with others for Modern Records in the ‘50s: Rhythm Rockin’ Blues (Ace). It’s filled with some gem cuts, and includes some great Ike guitar. “Rocket 88” will knock your socks off, as will his “Blues Medley.” “I Ain’t Drunk” is funny as hell. It is all worthwhile.

Let us all hope for a better new year—with some peace and understanding in the world. See you in 2008!

(December 27, 2007:) As we approach another new year I naturally seem to get into a reflective mode. It seems the further we go into the new Millennium, the more critical it is to keep alive the roots that make the music of today possible. I have been as guilty as anyone of sometimes discounting or neglecting the people who made concrete the idea of picking up a guitar or bass and playing a certain way. One of those artists certainly was Carl Perkins. He did get the recognition he deserved later in his career, but the original landmark Sun recordings he made in the ‘50s did not initially bring him worldwide acclaim. It was the covers that other artists made of his songs that helped introduce him to a larger audience, of course. “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Honey Don’t,” “Matchbox,” and “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” are perfect examples.

A CD came out a while ago featuring two Sun LP compilations: Blue Suede Shoes and Original Golden Hits on the Collectables/Sun Collectors Series. It is a good set. All the tunes mentioned above are on there, plus a good number of other ones. What strikes me as I listen to the CD is how much of his output had a country flair and how low his lead guitar was in the mix. His special way of guitar picking formed one of the main influences on the rockabilly style and of course his vocal approach was also widely influential. Nevertheless the heavy balance in favor of guitars his music inspired really wasn’t as present on his first recordings as was the case later. And the more country-inspired numbers are not often remembered. But everything still sounds fresh and inspiring to me, especially when contemplating the year to come.

(December 26, 2007:) Happy Boxing Day, for those countries that celebrate. Not here in the USA, alas. I am back after a brief respite and today perhaps it is time for some quieter music. Joanna Newsom would fit the bill. She sings and plays a stringed harp like an angel. A somwhat quirky angel she is. Joanna’s voice makes her sound like she is twelve years old, but I am sure she is not. A CD of hers, The Milk-Eyed Mender (DC), is about three years old or so, and that’s the one I have been playing. The songs are whimsical and somehow hearken to an unspecified previous time in this or some other world, or at least a less urban world of today. Acoustic folkies could learn something from her harp playing. This is folk music coming from another place. It is innocent sounding in a way, but more than that, it is honest.