Weekend Song

Grammy Award-winning singer / songwriter Sara Bareilles has a new album, "Good Grief," coming out later this year. Our weekend song is a track from that album, "Home." Enjoy the weekend. 

Weekend Song: Sir Paul's Poignant New Single

Music giant and international treasure Sir Paul McCartney, who will be 84 years young in June, hasn't stopped making glorious music that the world loves. He has a new album -- his 20th solo album --  coming out in a few weeks, "The Boys of Dungeon Lane," a reference to a road in Liverpool "along the Mersey shore" where as a child he bird watched and swam. 

"Days We Left Behind" is a song from that upcoming album that was released recently: a lovely, wistful melody that has Sir Paul almost whispering the deeply personal lyrics accompanied by an acoustic guitar and piano. Just beautiful. (Sir Paul will be the featured guest for SNL's season finale on May 16, so he's likely to sing this and other songs from the new album).

Weekend Song: Les Pierres Qui Roulent

 

One of the last genres of music that we expected the Rolling Stones to plumb is zydeco, the Creole music that evokes New Orleans and jambalaya and whose syncopated sound is accented by an accordion and rub board or vest frottoir. In a tribute to the "King of Zydeco," Clifton Chenier, the Stones have cut a rollicking single on the "Tribute to the King of Zydeco" album, entitled "Zydeco Sont Pas Salés", rough Creole for "the beans aren't salted." (The term "zydeco" is a Creole pronunciation for the French word "haricot," meaning "beans"). That's Jagger on harmonica and vocals (in French no less), and Steve Riley on accordion. Enjoy your weekend and laissez les bon temps rouler! [As a footnote, 60 years ago this month, the Stones had their biggest hit, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"]. 

Weekend Song: The Bell

 

Swedish alt folk duo First Aid Kit, comprised of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg, are known for their haunting harmonies and compositions. "The Bell" is the group's latest single, and it doesn't disappoint. Enjoy.

Weekend Song

 

Alt-country musician Margo Price doesn't fit the mould of a Nashville artist. Independent, mixing honky tonk with psychedelic pop, Price is admired by her peers for overcoming setbacks in her life, tenaciousness in staying true to her music, and offbeat artistry. From her latest album "Strays", Price is joined by former lead guitar for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Mike Campbell on her newly-released single "Unoriginal Sin." Enjoy.

Who's in charge here? I want to talk to the king,

Who's been starving the artists while the dead men dream?

And the lower the fruit hangs off of the vine, the more desperate people gonna take a bite,

It's an unoriginal sin, is that the best you can do?

It's an unoriginal sin, I expected more out of you.

Weekend Song: Angry

 

Finally. The Rolling Stones are releasing their first studio album of original material in 18 years with "Hackney Diamonds', on October 20. The album features Elton John, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, and Stevie Wonder on some tracks, as well as the late, great original member Charlie Watts on two tracks. They've released a music video of a track from that album, "Angry," featuring the latest "it" girl Sydney Sweeney driven around LA in a red Mercedes convertible as she writhes to the music while billboards feature flashbacks of the Stones. So after 60 years, the Stones roll on.

Weekend Song

 

The Japanese House, the performing name of British indie musician Amber Mary Bain, will be releasing a new album, "In The End It Always Does," in June. A new track from that album is our song for the weekend: "Sad To Breathe."  Enjoy.

Weekend Song: Japanese Breakfast

 

Alternative pop-rock band Japanese Breakfast, headed by lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Michelle Zauner, has gained well-deserved recognition for their work. Their 2021 album "Jubilee" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album. Zauner, who's Korean-American, has been an advocate for ending the recent right-wing wave of violence against Asian-Americans, and has had her essays appear in such publications as Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker. Here, just released days ago, they cover Brandi Carlile's 2007 single "The Story" (the North Face branding is part of their latest marketing campaign). Enjoy.

All of these lines across my face

Tell you the story of who I am

So many stories of where I've been

And how I got to where I am

But these stories don't mean anything

When you've got no one to tell them to

It's true, I was made for you

Weekend Song

 

Young Decades, a new British alternative rock band from Leicester and Nottingham, has a new single out, "Man On Mars." It's our song to kick off the weekend. Enjoy.

Weekend Autumn Leaves Song

On January 3, 1996, gifted singer and guitarist Eva Cassidy performed at Washington, DC's well known Blues Alley blues and jazz club, and sang a beautiful, melancholy version of "Autumn Leaves." This song, among others, became part of her album, "Live At Blues Alley." Tragically, Cassidy died of cancer at 33 nearly 23 years ago, on November 2, 1996, almost exactly 10 months after the song was recorded. Posthumously, her artistry gained wide acclaim and recognition, especially in the UK and Europe. She's sold 10 million copies of her recordings and has a following that includes Sir Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton, something that she would have loved to have known.

Weekend It's Me Song

Jazz / r&b vocalist Lindsey Webster has a languid, lovely new single out, "It's Not You, It's Me," from her top 5 album "Love Inside." The track features a favorite of ours, Rick Braun, on trumpet. Good tune for a summer night to relax and drift away by.

Weekend Song

If you've been watching the Ken Burns/ Lynn Novick "The Vietnam War" documentary on PBS this week (and we hope you have), you'll have heard Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" in the opening episode. Written in 1962, it's been described as a "protest song" that covers a lot of ground: "injustice, suffering, rising seas, pollution and warfare." Even without the connection made by the film, it struck us as a foreshadowing of the natural events of recent months: the devastating Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, and the earthquakes in Mexico. The tragedy of Vietnam was the result of human misjudgment, ignorance, self- deception and stubborn egotism playing out over decades, human frailties that seem to know no end, for which we all end up paying. We're featuring it as an encore (having posted it almost a year ago on the occasion of Dylan's Nobel Prize for Literature).

Weekend "Walking" Song

Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and composer David Benoit and French jazz guitarist Marc Antoine have combined their talents on a new album out, "So Nice!" A cut off of that album, "Caminando" (Walking) is our weekend song. Enjoy.

Weekend Spirit Song

Canada's alternative/indie rock group The Strumbellas, who've won Canada's coveted Juno music award,  released their single "Spirits" a few months ago.  The song is about someone struggling with their inner demons, and trying to overcome them so they can live in a better world. It topped the U.S. alternative singles charts, and is a compelling song, lyrically and musically, that has a way of sticking with you, especially after Orlando.

Weekend State Song(s)

This week, the State of Minnesota celebrates 158 years as a state. The State's given birth to a number of iconic musical artists and groups (as well as the maternal side of our family), including Prince, Bob Dylan, the Andrews Sisters, Eddie Cochran, and such groups as Soul Asylum, The Replacements, The Castaways, and Semisonic. So today, in recognition of that anniversary, here's a short, varied sample of that State's musical legacy.

Weekend Jewel of A Song

The lovely solo artist Jewel has had a successful career as singer, songwriter, producer and actress over the past 20 years. She burst onto the music scene in 1996 with her huge first hit, the haunting "Who Will Save Your Soul?", a beautiful song that she actually wrote while traveling through Mexico as a teen and encountering many souls seemingly searching for salvation (alliteration award winner). So, here's that song, on its 20th anniversary.

Weekend Song

Oregon (now transplanted to LA) indie rock quartet flor has been quietly building a following in clubs and on social media since forming a couple of years ago. Their haunting melodies combine with a pop rock sound that hooks the listener.  Look for bigger things in the future from this band. Here's their "Unsaid" for our weekend song.

Weekend Can't Get Enough Song

Happy birthday to the late, great vocalist and composer Barry White, who would have turned 71 today.  Three-time Grammy winner White's sensual baritone/bass voice was used to great effect on a number of soulful, romantic hits, including "You're The First, The Last, My Everything," and today's selection, 1974's number one hit "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe."  Enjoy.

Weekend Overload Song

Our Memorial Day long weekend song is "Overload," by Life of Dillon, a new London-based UK band with an international music style that incorporates some influences of British pop and of Brazil, where two of the three band members were born, and rhythms of Nigeria, where their mother hails from.  "Dillon" happens to refer to a free-spirit, world-traveling beachcomber that they befriended while on a visit to Brazil in 2014.  Enjoy.

Weekend Morning Dew Song

The Grateful Dead was one of the iconic rock groups popularizing the "San Francisco sound" starting in the 1960s.  Although they lost their leader and lead singer Jerry Garcia twenty years ago this August, the group is still touring to the delight of legions of Deadheads.  Original member and bass player Phil Lesh celebrates his 75th birthday this Sunday.  Here's one of their evocative early songs, "Morning Dew."