Frustrations

It's legislative session time again here in Kentucky.  Actually, the session is wrapping up pretty soon.  I dread this time of year, because inevitably some numbskull will do something like this and it ends up making national news.  Way to go for home state pride.  Woo hoo!  (There are a lot of details missing from the linked story that help make the whole issue that much more frustrating.)  Seriously, sometimes I am embarrassed to be from this state.  And I have lived here pretty much my whole freaking life!!

These are the times when I have to remind myself of something cool about Kentucky to calm down. Like...  Like...  Like...

My Morning Jacket is from Louisville!



(They're even playing in Louisville in that clip.)









So, yeah, I gotta be better at taking the good with the bad when it comes to these parts.  But that bill is still horrible and needs to be stopped.

If you'll excuse me, I need to go make some phone calls and send some emails.

Need some spice and flavor?

Try a little Salt n Pepa!

Shoop



She Thing



Twist and Shout



Let's Talk About Sex



Independent



Works for me!  Hope it worked for you.  Sometimes I just need something a little different, yet familiar.

These are...

My favorite Patty Griffin songs.  In no particular order, because trying to order them was driving me nuts.

This one flat out knocks me out every time I hear it.  It hits a very personal chord with me that very few songs do.



I love this one for its simplicity.  I can't find a video of Patty doing it, so you get these dancers.  It was either that or a One Tree Hill montage.  I wasn't about to leave it off.  I'm relating to this one in a new way due to chemo.  That line about "going so slow, slow, slow" fits me to a "T" these days.



Here is the first one of her songs I really got to know.



This is another one of the first songs by her I ever heard.  It also hits that personal chord.  Only a few artists have more than one song that does that for me.  Ever since my mother died, I can't listen to this one without breaking up.  Surprisingly, I couldn't find anything of her performing this.



If I was absolutely forced to pick a number one fave, this would be it.  Check out her back-up singer.



Finally, I couldn't leave out the one she does in Spanish...to the Virgin of Guadalupe yet!  Again, no performance vid available.

Indecision

Sometimes, I just can't make up my mind.

I don't know if this is my favorite Todd Snider song....




But it might really be this one.  (To be fair, he didn't write this one.  It was written by the equally awesome Fred Eaglesmith, who is one of those songwriters you don't want to listen to when you're depressed.  I checked out several vids of this one and Snider flubs the lyrics in every one of them.  Not sure what's up with that, but I like this one too much to leave it out.)



This one?  (I know I've used another vid for this one in the blog before.  Sometimes I repeat myself.  it comes with age.)



Or this one?



Hell, I don't know.  I just don't know.

What a nice quandry to have.  Think I'll listen to them all again and see if I can figure it out.

Artist Spotlight: Jenny Lewis

For those of you who don't like that short of thing, there are lots of videos coming up.  Overkill, maybe, but the music is excellent.

Jenny Lewis is one of my favorites for a lot of reasons.  I like her songwriting a lot.  It's biting at times, but it always has a sense of humor at the same time.  It's also never too cloying or self-aware.  She stands at the intersection of contemporary folk and alt-country as a solo artist and manages to pull the best of both worlds together.  (And, I'm a total sucker for a female singer-songwriter with a strummy acoustic guitar thing going.)  But she can totally change gears with the band Rilo Kiley and do some of the best indy pop around.  It's like a total package thing or something, one I can listen to again and again.  Check out these examples.

First, with the Watson Twins, who are damn fine songwriters and performers in their own right.  They're alos from Louisville.  They were featured on her first solo album.

"You are what you love"



"Run Devil Run/Big Guns"

I love the way the opening tune here evokes more traditional, almost spiritual singing.



Now, on her own:

"Black Sand"

You see more of her pop-ish side on this haunting tune.  



Next with Johnathan Rice (who's quite a cutie):

"Carpetbaggers"

Not sure what the puppet is all about here, but I love this song.



And finally, with Rilo Kiley, a totally awesome group of musicians.

"Portions for Foxes"

Probably a predictable choice to include here, but it's an awesome song and an indy-pop classic, at least in my mind.  She trades in that acoustic guitar for a more souped up model.  I'll have this one stuck in my head all day now.  That's not a bad thing.



"Breakin' Up"

Gotta love the post-break up dance in this vid!



And, finally, back to Johnathan Rice for their take on a true classic.  I don't care who else has done this one, this is how it was meant to be done--a simple, heartfelt duet.



I like that their version evokes the original without copying it.  It's a nice homage to the trail-blazing duo who probably in part made it possible for a musical chameleon like Jenny Lewis to have a shot in the music business today.  And if you don't know who that duo is, you've not been around this blog for long.  I'll put a hint in the labels for you, if you'll promise to check both  them and Jenny Lewis out.  Okay?