Decade of Difference

Juno award winning Canadian folk artist James Keelaghan has been called ‘Canada’s finest songwriter’ by the esteemed music critic Dave Marsh. Keelaghan is well known for his storytelling during concerts, giving the back story on many of his songs. Keelaghan specializes in historically based songs rooted in Canada and US history.

One of his most famous songs relates the tale  of the devastation of the Mann Gulch fire of 1949 in the state of Montana. Fifteen smokejumpers parachuted in to fight the fire. When the winds turned they trapped and ultimately killed twelve of them. Keelaghan tells this true story of the smokejumpers’ experience through the point of view of Dodge, one of the only 3 remaining survivors.

James Keelaghan has won one Juno award and received nominations for two others. Along with Latin musician Oscar Lopez .he recorded a unique record of celtic latin fusion, a style they dubbed “Celtino”.

Regarding his interest in historical tales, Keelaghan says that it is as much a matter of the story finding him rather than him working to research possible songs. He says that often he will have a fan mention some obscure happening, and when Keelaghan follows up, he finds a song.

Only during the past decade has he decided that music is truly his career. Previously he worked on the assumption that soon he would go back to school and train as a lawyer.

The English band the Stone Roses started with a bang. Their debut album released in 1989 was praised, hailed as one of the greatest British albums ever recorded. The band won four New Music Express awards that year and released multiple UK top 40 songs from the album. Sales and distribution was hampered by a legal dispute. The band, wishing to capitalize on their acclaim, wanted to sign with a major record label but they were already under contract and the smaller company did not allow the group to leave easily.

The group formed in 1983 when bassist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire, old school friends in Manchester, reunited. They had played off and on in a series of bands. After six months of rehearsals, the Stone Roses began playing gigs and working on album material. It took another couple of years before the Stone Roses recorded a demo, leading to their signing for their initial record.

With the legal problems surrounding the first record, the Stone Roses were not able to complete their sophomore effort for five years. The release was also slowed by changes amongst and around the band, ultimately leading John Squire to leave.

The band was just not the same. The second album Second Coming was followed by a tour which was almost universally criticized. Brown’s vocals were described as “so off-key it was excruciating to have to listen”. New Music Express described the song I Am the Resurrection as “more like the eternal crucifixion”.

The group broke up in 1996 and each band mate did their own thing. A reunion came in 2011 which featured Ian Brown and John Squire playing together for the first time in over a decade. A reunion tour was scheduled and the band announced they were working on new material. The tour happened but there was no new album. The group split again in 2017.

Photo By: Silly Little Man Title: The Stone Roses at Heaton Park  Source: Flickr License: CC BY-SA 2.0

Two time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Jeff Beck passed away last week from a bacterial infection. Beck’s long career included time in the Yardbirds, his own Jeff Beck Group plus recording and touring appearances with artists ranging from Stanley Clarke, Tina Turner and ZZ Top.

Beck heard his first electric guitar on the radio as a six year old with Les Paul performing How High the Moon. When his mom told him it was an electric guitar and it was all tricks he replied “That’s for me”.

In college Beck played in several groups and got his introduction to R&B via the Rolling Stone’s Ian Stewart. Beck discovered his skill of playing a wide range of styles with his band the Nightshifts, which covered many different artists. In 1965 Beck was recruited to replace Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds after a recommendation from Jimmy Page who was the groups first choice. His 20 month tenure in the band was productive with most of the groups most successful songs recorded during that time.

Jeff Beck was dismissed from the Yardbirds in 1966 and moved on with his Jeff Beck Group, which included Ronie Wood, Rod Stewart, Ansley Dunbar and Nicky Hopkins. They recorded two albums before resentment and touring incidents led to the group disbanding. In the latter part of the 60s, Beck was considered as a replacement guitarist in both Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones.

In the 70’s a new Jeff Beck Group appeared with albums recorded at some iconic US studios in Detroit and Memphis.Beck displayed his guitar skills through several albums recorded with a variety of soul, jazz and rock musicians.

In the 80’s Beck appeared with Eric Clapton in a series of historic live performance in benefit for Amnesty International called The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball. His 90’s work included recordings with Jon Bon Jovi. His appearance with Guns N’ Roses was canceled when Beck became temporarily deaf during rehearsals.

In the 2000s Beck won his third Grammy and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo work. The 2010s saw Beck receive two honorary degrees and work closely with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys on his new material. Touring with Brian Wilson was something Jeff Beck described as ‘a complete honor’. Beck’s last work was released in June – a collaboration on two tracks from the latest Ozzy Osbourne album.

Portishead was among the first to popularize trip-hop in the US. Combining slow beats with elements from jazz, house and soundtrack music, the group was not as closely tied to dance as their contemporaries and as a result appealed to a broader audience.

Before Portishead released their debut album, Dummy, in 1994, trip-hop’s broad appeal wasn’t apparent, but the record became an unexpected success in Britain, topping most year-end critics polls and earning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize; in America, it also became an underground hit, selling over 150,000 copies before the group toured the U.S.

Portishead is named after the UK West Coast town where co-founder Geoff Barrow grew up. Barrow had met the members of Massive Attack and written songs for Neneh Cherry before he met Beth Gibbons. She had been singing in pubs and the two began collaborating on songs in 1991. The band mates were both media-shy, making promotion of their first record difficult.

Their second record took three years to create and then Portishead went on a hiatus in 1999 while the bandmates worked on solo projects. Finally in 2005 the group played their first live shows in seven years followed in 2008 by their first record in a decade. A single came in 2010 as a benefit for Amnesty International and since then the group has performed only occasionally.

Singer-Songwriter John Mellencamp turns 71 today. The performer, known at different points in his career as John Cougar, Johnny Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp than simply John Mellencamp has earned 13 Grammy nominations over his career and holds the record for the most number one singles by a solo artist on the hot mainstream rock chart. A Billboard chart that began in 1981.

In college in Indiana, Mellencamp played in a glitter rock band and after he completed a two year degree had a job installing telephones. He gave all that up to move to New York and pursue music full time. It took a year and a half before he sparked some interest, releasing his first record in 1976 under the name Johnny Cougar because his management thought ‘Mellencamp’ was too hard to pronounce.

After moving to London to record and promote his next album, he was successful enough to return to the US and launch another record. His second record on his return, American Fool was the breakthrough with his first number one song and a Grammy winner among the singles it produced.

John Mellencamp was successful enough in the 80s to convince the record company using his full name would work out OK, and his biggest records were released as John Cougar Mellencamp. 1985’s Scarecrow produced 5 top 10 singles and was an album greatly influenced by 60s rock. Mellencamp gave his band about 100 singles from that era for them to study in preparation for recording the record. Mellencamp has proclaimed that this album actually launched the alt country genre, a view not widely shared.

By 1997 Mellencamp dropped the ‘Cougar’ and has recorded as John Mellencamp since then. His long career includes 24 studio albums with the most recent coming out this year and induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.  If not the first, Mellencamp was among the first to feature old time string instruments like the mandolin, dulcimer and autoharp on a par with the electric guitar and other instruments that are typical in rock music.

Sam Outlaw describes his musical style as ‘SoCal Country’, a mix of classic honky-tonk and troubadour pop with a southern California vibe.

Born Sam Morgan in South Dakota, he moved with his family to southern California when he was 10. The family imposed significant control over his musical choices but Outlaw found things to his liking from Asleep at the Wheel and the Beatles along with classic country artists like George Jones. His stage name Outlaw is his mother’s maiden name, which he uses as a tribute to her.

A successful career in advertising  left music as a pastime that Outlaw pursued via a country band, but at 30 Outlaw dropped out of advertising to focus on music.

Sam Outlaw collected an all star cast of southern California musicians for his first album Angeleno and the legendary Ry Cooder produced it.The record produced a buzz around Outlaw, with Rolling Stone declaring him one of the emerging artists to see at SXSW in 2015.

His follow up album Tenderheart debuted in the top 5 on the UK country chart, where he also earned award nominations from the UK Country Music Association. Since then Outlaw has evolved his sound to include more of the sounds that influenced him in his youth. Commenting on his decision to go all in on the updated sound, Outlaw says “I put aside questions of what would this do to my career or my fanbase, and instead, I said, I’m going to be the one up on stage playing these songs, so I need to find what makes me excited,” he says. “If I’m bored, the audience will be bored.”

Growing up in rural Missouri, Nathaniel Rateliff was greatly influenced by his church through his teens. Learning guitar at 13, Rateliff listened exclusively to Christian music until he discovered a copy of John Lennon’s Imagine tucked into his fathers record collection. The title track led Rateliff to question his religious beliefs and moved his music in a secular direction.

Ratliff dropped out of school at 16 and began work in a plastics factory before moving to Denver on an evangelical mission. He also continued songwriting and performing and while in Denver, began to question his spiritual beliefs more intently, eventually leaving his evangelical group to work odd jobs and perform. Over the course of a decade Rateliff got married, built decks and worked in a trucking company. By 2010 his music evolved into quiet, introspective tunes and he released his first album.

After two records, Nathaniel Rateliff found that he was writing songs that required a band so he formed the Night Sweats. Heavily influenced by early Van Morrison records and the Band, the new group built a reputation for their powerful live shows and in 2015 worked to capture that sound on a record.

Rateliff had considered the debut Night Sweats record to be his last chance at a career in music . Fortunately, the lead single SOB was a viral hit. An EP and a second album followed which debuted in the top 20. Despite the success of his group, Rateliff has not been content to drop his quieter solo work, releasing another solo record in 2019. It was his first in 7 years and was followed by a solo tour.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Lindsey Buckingham won his entry through his work with Fleetwood Mac when he was a member of the group during their most productive years, 1975 to 1987. When asked to join the group in 1974 he agreed only if he could also include his romantic and musical partner Stevie Nicks. Together they led the band through their most successful record. Rumours, released in 1977 sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

While continuing with Fleetwood Mac in the 80s, Buckingham also produced records for Walter Egan and John Stewart while recording his first solo record. Law and Order featured Buckingham  on almost all of the instruments with appearances by other Fleetwood Mac band mates. The album produced a top 10 single.

Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac in 1987, after a long period of difficult relationships with his bandmates, including a breakup with his former girlfriend Stevie Nicks. Buckingham’s following sole record Out of the Cradle focused on the problems with Nicks and the band’

Since then Buckinghams’ career has been a mix of solo records and occasional Fleetwood Mac reunions which ended with his firing from the band in 2018 when he would not agree to terms for a tour by the band.

Happy Birthday Bruce Springsteen! The artist once said that he would like to make a record with the lyrics like Bob Dylans, a sound like Phil Spector produced it and vocals like Roy Orbison. Although Springsteen was tagged as the next Bob Dylan early in his career, he never shied away from his love of 60’s pop radio songs and rock. His first interest in music came from seeing Elvis Presley perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.

A series of bands came and went from 1965 to 1971, some of which included future E Street Band members, but Springsteen was a solo act when he signed his first record contract. He immediately rehired most of his own band and initially his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ was ignored. Manfred Mann had a hit with a cover of Blinded by the Light four years later. Since then the record has gone double platinum and has been named one of the best debut records of all time.

Springsteen’s second album The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle was also initially a failure. It drove Springsteen to rework his band for one final try with Columbia Records. The third time was the charm – Born to Run peaked at number three and while none of the singles did nearly that well, the album benefited from a popular radio format of the day, album oriented rock. Almost all tracks on the album got significant airplay.

This set the stage for Springsteen’s biggest selling album, 1984’s Born in the USA. The record sold 30 million copies worldwide and featured seven hit singles. The title song was often misinterpreted – especially by politicians who chose not to listen to the lyrics but focused on the catchy chorus. Over six decades of performing what could sometimes be three to four hour concerts, he has earned his nickname – The Boss. Happy Birthday, Bruce!

Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan triggered Ritter’s initial interest in music, prompting him to visit the local K-Mart to purchase his first guitar. Initially drawn to neuroscience as his intellectual pursuit, Ritter quickly shifted to his own independent major “American History Through Narrative Folk Music.” Ritter landed in Boston where he played open mic nights and was fortunate to gain the attention of Glen Hansard, who invited him to Scotland to open on his upcoming tour.

Josh Ritter recorded his first two records independently. The second Golden Age of Radio was made on a $1000 budget. Signature Sounds offered to remaster and re-release the album after hearing Ritter perform and the new version along with his time on Hansards’ tour produced a popular song in Ireland. Ritter found himself a success via word of mouth throughout Ireland.

By 2015 Josh Ritter was releasing his eighth studio album. Sermon on the Rocks was his second record to reach number one on the folk charts. Since then Ritter has released two more records.Since 2002’s Golden Age of Radio, Ritter has consistently earned high praise for his songwriting. Along the way he released a novel and convinced Jason Isbell to produce his latest record with backing from the 400 Unit.