Decade of Difference

Over his long career, Roger McGuinn has influenced many artists. His 12 string Rickenbacker guitar added a distinctive sound to folk rock and country rock. The Beatles, Tom Petty and R.E.M all list McGuinn as an influence.

The Chicago native first began touring with the Limelighters as a teen in the late 50s. Some early recording and session work with other artists led to a connection with David Crosby and Gene Clark. Together with Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke the three formed the Byrds. Despite the critical and commercial success of the Byrds, McGuinn was the only original member remaining in the band by 1968. The Byrds continued under McGuinns’ direction until 1973, when the group dissolved and McGuinn started a solo career,

Roger McGuinn placed his solo career on hold briefly in the 70s to join Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review after collaborating with him on the soundtrack for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Following that was a short lived reunion with Gene Clark and Chris Hillman of the Byrds which produced some minor hits in the late 70s before falling apart.

By 1981 Roger McGuinn was without a recording contract, a situation that persisted for a decade. His comeback in 1991 Back From Rio produced his biggest hit, the duet with Tom Petty titled King of the Hill.

McGuinn started Folk Den (https://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden-wp/) in 1995. On the site he releases one folk song a month with a recorded version of the song, a brief history and the lyrics.

Suzanne Vega was at the forefront of a new generation of female singer songwriters who came to prominence in the late 80s and early 90s. Her hushed, articulate lyrics won fans and compared to flamboyant female musicians of the era like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, Vega seemed like she was headed to play in the coffee shop rather than on a big stage. She says she always felt she knew herself pretty well, and did not have to cultivate an image.

Suzanne Vega’s first album in 1985 sold well, especially in the UK and her “Marlena on the Wall” got regular airplay on MTV and VH1. It was her second album that really scored, with “Luka” from the album becoming an international hit. The song tells the story of an abused child from the perspective of the child.

Suzanne Vega’s later work never quite captured the same attention as “Solitude Standing” but she was still — indirectly — involved in one of ’90s most bizarre hit singles. Two British dance producers working under the alias DNA took the acappella “Solitude Standing” track “Tom’s Diner” and set it to an electronic dance beat, releasing the result as a bootleg single called “Oh Suzanne.” When A&M discovered the piracy, Vega decided to allow the single’s official release under its original title, and it became a substantial hit in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere. The following year, Vega gathered a number of other unsolicited versions of the song and compiled them as Tom’s Album.It is no secret that New York has had a big impact on Vegas’ career. She acknowledges that with her latest record 2020s’ An Evening of New York Songs and Stories. It includes some of her best songs plus a collection of New York City centered covers.

Josh Rouse has always been a traveler. Born in Nebraska, Rouse and his family lived in several western states and by 18 he had relocated to Tennessee where he took up songwriting. His work plays heavily on the music he heard as a youth – AM radio soft pop.

Rouse released  Dressed Up Like Nebraska to critical acclaim and this prompted a move to Nashville where he recorded his next three albums. A connection with producer Brad Jones on the last two of those records created a more lush sound. It was also the last record he made in Nashville. The end of his first marriage led Rouse to wander again, moving to Spain.

After settling in a small Spanish seaside town, Rouse began writing with the resulting work reflecting his new surroundings. Sometimes working in Spanish, Rouse released records showing the new musical influences. Amongst the highlights of his European stay was the receipt of a Spanish Goya Award for best original song for his contribution to a Spanish film.

Rouse married a Spanish musician and developed a working relationship with a local band. His latest record Going Places was conceived with that band, designed to be music that Rouse feels would be comfortable to play in a bar or small club setting.

After a ten year stay in Spain, Rouse is on the move again, resettling in Nashville where he will launch a tour in support of the new record.

The son of a Pentacostal preacher who was a champion prize fighter and a factory worker prior to focusing on music, Paul Thorn brings a wide range of life experiences to his songwriting and performances. Although Thorn was born in Wisconsin, his familys’ move to Tupelo Mississippi when he was an infant left the imprint of the deep south on his vocals.

As a teen Thorn was focused on boxing, posting a 14-4 record and winning the Mid-South Middleweight Championship.. He earned a televised fight with Roberto Duran, and his loss convinced Thorn that he was not likely to become a boxing champion. This led him to drop boxing for skydiving and a 10 plus year career working in a furniture factory.

Paul Thorn took to playing singer/songwriter nights at a local pizza parlor, when a record executive heard him. He asked permission to forward Thorns’ demos to friends in Nashville. Not much later, Thorn was touring, opening shows for Sting. After a couple of years of constant touring, Thorn decided to leave his record label and strike out on his own.

All of his ten following albums came on his own record label, His constant support of his home state of Mississippi earned the artist a designation  of March 27th as ‘Paul Thorn Day’ by the Mississippi House of Representatives.

While playing in the Baltimore indie rock scene, Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally met and began writing music together. Initially they performed using a mix of organ, programmed drums and guitar with a lo-fi sound. After placing a song on Pitchforks’ infinite mixtape series, the pair went on to record their first album  in Scally’s basement.

Early on Victoria LeGrand described herself as a bit of perfectionist, a trait she had to suppress on the first Beach House album. She and Scally recorded the entire album in a day and a half, leaving little time for do-overs.

After their first two records, Beach House transitioned to a more complex sound, peaking in 2012 with Bloom, the band’s most successful record. In 2013 the group released a short concert film recorded around the same time as the earlier record, completing their concept of a united audio and visual release.

The latest record Once Twice Melody came out in pieces starting in 2021 and reached completion in February of this year with the physical release of the full record. With the record comes a new tour – the first in the long time. For both Scally and LeGrand it will be a welcome return to normal, as touring and performing has been a major part of their life for many years.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Robbie Robertson turns 79 today. His work with the Band helped create the Americana genre and he was key to Bob Dylan going electric in the mid 60s. Robertson was called by Dylan and asked to join as guitarist in his backing band. Robertson refused but agreed to play two shows and included Levon Helm on drums. Although the two shows were not well received, Dylan hired Levon Helm and his band the Hawks, which included Robertson for his next tour.

Fans were hostile to Dylans’ efforts, feeling betrayed by his electrification, but the group persisted. Eventually Dylan and the Hawks spent months playing together in the basement of a house in Woodstock, New York. Eventually an album came called The Basement Tapes, but not before bootleg copies circulated widely, jump starting the bootleg record business.

Robertsons work with the Band at the same time includes composition of four of the bands most famous songs, including The Weight and Chest Fever. Robertson launched his solo career in 1987 drawing on many famous musicians to join on the record.

Robbie Robertson grew up in Toronto and often traveled to the Six Nations Reserve where his mother was from. It was there that family members mentored him on the guitar. As a teen Robertson spent summers working for a carnival and a freak show, experiences he later drew on for his role in the movie Carney. After playing in his own band, Robertson started following rockabilly musician Ronnie Hawkins, who eventually hired him for his road crew.

Eventually Robertson found his way into Hawkins’ backing band the Hawks, where he developed a close friendship with Levon Helm.

Robbie Robertsons’ career has included record production, music for movies and acting. He has worked with Martin Scorsese and many projects, including The Irishman in 2019

Pioneers in the New York new wave scene, Debbie Harry and Blondie moved from the citys’ underground music scene to mainstream success with a series of hit singles in the 70s.

Guitarist Chris Stein joined the Stillettos, a city band and established a romantic relationship with the groups’ vocalist, Debbie Harry. Harrys’ diverse background included time in a folk band along with work as a waitress and a Playboy bunny. The pair formed a new group in 1975 named after the catcalls of ‘Hey Blondie’ from truck drivers passing Harry on the street.

David Bowie and Iggy Pop were big fans of Blondies’ first record, inviting the band to play on Bowies ‘The Idiot’ tour. It was not until the bands’ third album that they found their audience in the US, led by the international hit Heart of Glass.

The late 70s saw Blondie release several hit singles and record platinum sales of their albums. In 1981 the band went on a hiatus and on their return they recorded The Hunter which was poorly received.

The early 80s saw pressure on the band increase to a level that forced a breakup. By late 1982 the band had dissolved into a flurry of legal actions, and Harry was forced to sell her New York mansion due to mounting financial issues. She and Chris Stein finally broke up and Harry pursued a solo career.

By the early 2000s, enough time had passed for a new generation of fans to discover Blondie. The band reformed for new records and a Parallel Lines 30th Anniversary tour and continues touring today.

James Mercer has been the only constant in the Shins, a band he formed in 1996 in New Mexico while a member of another band called Flake. Flake had released some singles and gone on the road with Modest Mouse, but Mercer desired a more focused sound than the collaborative, improvisational sound of his current group. By 1999 Flake has disbanded, allowing Mercer to focus on the Shins.

After hearing the band in concert, Sub Pop records offered the band a chance to release a single as part of the label’s continuing singles release club. When New Slang was released it generated enough positive press to make the Shins first album Oh Inverted World one of the most anticipated indie releases of 2001. The record did not disappoint and achieved sales far beyond the labels’ expectations. Mercer was able to leverage the success of the album through lucrative licensing deals and touring.

New Slang would advance the Shins a second time when it was featured in the film Garden State. Natalie Portmans’ character says that the song will ‘change your life’ in the film, and after the movies’ release, the band sold twice as many copies of their two records as they had prior to the film.

After a decade of the Shins, Mercer put the band on hold to recover from the stress of it all. Removing himself from the center of attention as he was in the Shins, Mecer collaborated with Danger Mouse in the well received project Broken Bells.

When the Shins returned it was without the original band members replaced by a rotating cast of musicians supporting Mercers’ vision for the band.

Recently the Shins reissued Oh Inverted World in a deluxe form to celebrate its 20the Anniversary and this year the band is playing the album in its entirety as part of their ‘21st birthday’ tour of North America.

Blues Traveler formed when John Popper and his friend started a band originally called the Establishment in high school. After a few lineup changes, the group eventually settled on Blues Traveler as their name and moved on to New York after graduation.

First playing the clubs around the city and then on the colleges, all of the band members eventually dropped out of college to focus on music, and after releasing their first album in 1990 they began touring continuously. The group established themselves as a staple on the jam band scene with their improvisational sets and this led to their launching the H.O.R.D.E Festival in 1992.

Inspired by Lollapalooza, the festival was a touring event that featured jam bands and helped identify the strong appeal nationwide of those bands. This led to their release of the album Four which initially appeared to be a disappointment until the single Run-Around was released. The song spent nearly a full year on the sales charts and pushed the album to Platinum status.

After the success of Four, Blues Traveler found themselves with opportunities to perform on movie soundtracks and they did, providing tracks for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Blues Brothers 2000 and others.

A lineup change came in 2000 after the tragic death of bassist Bobby Sheehan from an accidental overdose. About the same time the group also expanded with the addition of keyboards.

Blues Traveler released their latest record last week, with Traveler’s Blues receiving a Grammy nomination for best Traditional Blues album. The band continues the busy road schedule, which now numbers over 2000 live performances.

An alt country band formed in 2006 in Raleigh North Carolina, American Aquarium spent their first few years touring with occasional time set aside to record, producing two self released albums before 2010.

By 2012 American Aquarium had decided to end things as a band, planning one final album. Burn.Flicker.Die was produced by Jason Isbell, and was far more popular and critically acclaimed than their earlier releases. Barham says about the album: “It’s kind of ironic that the record about not making it is the record that helped us make it.” The band decided to remain together given this success.

It became clear in 2017 that American Aquarium was a band organized around the music of BJ Barham when he announced that the band would cease to exist in its current form. Soon Barham announced a new lineup and went to work on a new album.

Lamentations finally came in 2020 after a midstream switch to producer Shooter Jennings triggered a move on the recording from Memphis to LA. Since then Barham and the band have been busy, releasing three albums in the last two years.

Two of those are inspired by pandemic streaming sessions Barham hosted and consist of country music covers and the most recent is an album of new material. Named for  the now abandoned lifesaving station on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Chicamacomico has received positive reviews since its release earlier this year. Barham says that “Chicamacomico sounds like nothing we’ve ever done, yet it sits comfortably amongst the rest of our catalog”.