Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#250 in the Series) is Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blues. (Bloodshot Records) I’ll be the first to admit. I ‘think’ I had heard of Justin Townes Earle. But I’m not sure. He’s an Americana musician and that pretty much is my favorite genre for years now. Somehow, Justin slid through the cracks. This week changed that.  I was watching a few  ‘DVRed’episodes of David Letterman last night. (I can’t believe he didn’t have ‘Mike Singletary’ on to discuss his firing.) On Tuesday this week, Justin was the musical guest. To say the least I could not have liked his performance more!  He was outstanding.  I then was able to see that his...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#205 in the Series) is Emmylou Harris, Luxury Liner. This album was released during the peak of Emmylou’s ‘Hot Band’ era.  They were Hank DeVito (pedal steel), James Burton (electric guitar), Rodney Crowell (acoustic + electric guitar), Emory Gordy, Jr. (bass), John Ware (drums) and one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Albert Lee (electric guitar). All of those musicians went on to marvelous careers. I’ve made it a project to find some videos from this era to attach below.  Be sure to give them some play. The highest charting hit here was Emmylou’s rendition of Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell (C’est la Vie).’  She also covered two songs either written...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#182 in the Series) is Steve Earle, Guitar Town. His first and still my favorite. I saw him at the Park West shortly after his second album; Exit 0 was released. But I always liked this one. The Chicago market was onto Steve Earle pretty early thanks to WXRT.  They played this album from day one, If not earlier.  What’s a great thing about Steve Earle too is that he’s never forgotten that. He’s repaid the favor to them many times over.   They were not the only help he had here.  Steve Dahl was onto him early as well. “Guitar Town,” plus “My Old Friend the Blues” and “Someday” were some of the...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#176 in the Series) is Waylon Jennings, I’ve Always Been Crazy. Waylon Jennings always put out cool albums!  This one was one of the coolest. I’ve Always Been Crazy was one of his strongest efforts from beginning to end. This album actually rocked quite a bit. Yeah, there were a few ballads, but the title cut, “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Thing’s Done Got Out of Hand,” “A Long Time Ago” all rolled along pretty good. “A Long Time Ago” was co-written with the great Shel Silverstein. Silverstein was long known for his cartoon work and even wrote A Boy Named Sue.  He also wrote another song on the album called “Whistlers and...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#171 in the Series) is self-titled debut from, Court Yard Hounds. This was my surprise find of the year.  It’s one of my favorite albums of 2010. For those of you not familiar with Court Yard Hounds, they are Emily Robison and Martie Maguire from the Dixie Chicks. I’ve always liked the Dixie Chicks.  Taking their name from a Little Feat song got them going in the right direction from the start with me!  However, I never was a huge fan that saw them in concert or bought more than an album here or there. (I do think the single “Not Ready to Make Nice” is superb!) So one night I’m watching David Letterman...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#134 in the Series) is Gram Parson’s, GP. I was shocked to see that I hadn’t featured Gram Parson’s as of yet.  He’s one of my all-time favorites.   I did feature him as part of The Byrds, Sweethearts of the Rodeo era. GP was Gram’s first of two studio albums.  Grievous Angel was the second and could have been as easily featured as GP since they are both outstanding pieces of music. GP was home for some of Gram’s most wonderful moments.  He was in excellent voice in this era.  Give a listen to some of the slower moments of the disc including ‘A Song For You, Streets of Baltimore, She’ or ‘The...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel’s, “Willie and the Wheel.” Which 2009 release sat in my CD player the most? It easily was Willie Nelson and Texas swing band Asleep at the Wheel teaming up for Willie and the Wheel. This was such a fun record. Short, only 36 minutes in length and just a bunch of fun. They covered ‘Hesitation Blues’ (Hot Tuna used to do a great rendition of this) and also ‘I’m Sitting on Top of the World.’ Some of my favorites included ‘Sweet Jennie Lee’ and also Oh! You Pretty Woman.’ One of the most accessible records I’ve heard in a long time. I real easy listen....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the 1968 release by The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Quite simply, a masterpiece. Was it the first country rock album? That’s debatable. There has been so much written and discussed about this music that I’m not even going to try and invent an original idea. Just listen to the music. I’d have loved to have heard Roger McGuinn and Gram Parsons stay together longer. But then Gram might not have gone on to to record two other great pieces of music (Gram Parsons and GP). And maybe he wouldn’t have gone on to discover (along with Chris Hillman) EmmyLou Harris. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Rodney Crowell, “Diamonds & Dirt.” Rodney Crowell is one of America’s great singer/songwriters. He’s written hits for Bob Seger (Shame on the Moon), George Strait/Jimmy Buffett (Stars on the Water), Waylon Jennings/EmmyLou Harris (Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This) and on and on. He also saves some good ones for himself. “Diamonds & Dirt” is a fine example.Highlights include: ‘I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried, She’s Crazy For Leavin’, After All This Time’ and a Duet with then wife Rosanne Cash ‘It’s Such a Small World’ Rodney was a member of the great 70s EmmyLou Harris ‘Hot Band.’ But he also had a hot band of his own. His guitarist during this...