Today’s Cool Live album of the Day (#544 in the Series and #57 in the Live Saturday Night Series) is Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels, Live ‘73 (Sierra Records) Today we look at this special album by this special artist on a special day, for today, Gram Parsons would have been 65 years of age.  I look at it as a bittersweet day, for as I celebrate his birthday I cannot help but wonder what would have been.  What kind of music would Gram have been producing if those that were troubled and in need of help back in the early 70s could have received the help that they do today.  Not that we have all the...

  EmmyLou Harris announced in Los Angeles today that she and former band mate, Rodney Crowell have a duets album in their plans.  She also explained that the plan was to have backing by the other members of that band, better known as the “Hot Band.” She told Randy Lewis at the L.A. Times  “This is a duet record between me and Rodney, and that’s the main thing,” “It’s looking like we’re going to have the original Band, at least in some form, and everybody’s excited about it,” she said. “But I don’t want to lose track of the fact that this whole idea I’ve been carrying around for so long is that for about a week, the...

The Harldy Strickly Bluegrass Festival has announced their line-up. The quanity of the musicians is almost too good to be true. From Robert Plant to John Prine, to The Jayhawks.  Not to mention, Justin Townes Earle, Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs, The Flatlanders, Kris Kristofferson & Merle Haggard together, Earl Scruggs, Bright Eyes… the list goes on and on. It will be held at Speedway Meadow at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Friday Sept. 30th, Saturday Oct. 1st, and Sunday Oct. 2nd. Oh,  yeah…. and it’s free as well.  Here’s the artists that will be part of this glorious weekend. Robert Plant & the Band of Joy John Prine The Jayhawks The Del McCoury Band & The Preservation Hall...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#434in the Series) is Carlene Carter, I Fell in Love Youngsters from musical families have a huge advantage over the majority of society.  Not only is music given to them via their genes, but having it in their ears from before birth is just a wonderful way to grow up. A dear friend of mine was from a musical family.  He’s a guitar player/singer/songwriter etc. etc. He married a singer/dancer and yes, their two children have grown up to be extremely musical in their own write.  In fact the daughter has been headlining places like the Rainbow Room and Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles all this summer. But what else makes...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#393 in the Series) is Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like A Wheel Laurel Canyon is a stretch of Los Angeles wonderland that runs through the Hollywood Hills from the Sunset Strip to the San Fernando Valley. That curving, stretching, boulevard of hipness and “California Noir” is where Carole King escaped to create her “Tapestry” masterpiece.  It was in Laurel Canyon, while living on Lookout Mountain with Joni Mitchell, that Graham Nash wrote “Our House”.  Leading the “Soft Parade” of Laurel Canyon artists, musicians, singers, and songwriters that included Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Warren Zevon, The Mamas and the Papas, the various incarnations of The Flying Burrito Brothers including Gram Parsons, most of The Eagles,...

Gram Parsons has been gone for over 35 years now. Yet his influence on Emmylou Harris isn’t just hinted at in her sound. No, every so often, she gathers up that internal feeling and writes another great song to honor her dear friend. See: Boulder to Birmingham. I want to make sure that people know the other side of the story. We always hear how much Gram had to do with Emmylou’s early career. I want to make sure that people realize that this wasn’t a one way street. Emmylou may have helped Gram even more. Yes, you read it right. I’m referring to the Flying Burrito Brother era of Gram’s career and even into the period where he...

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 (#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...