Within Earshot: a podcast from Earshot Presents

Fallin’ & Flyin’ by Jeff Bridges and Colin Ferrell (from Crazy Heart)

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:52:13 +0000

In the movie Crazy Heart, actor Jeff Bridges does an impressive job of singing country. Fallin’ & Flyin’ is arguably the best example. There are two versions of the song on the OST, and this one features the harmonies of Colin Ferrell. Fallin’ & Flyin’ was written by Stephen Bruton (RIP) and Gary Nicholson.

I’ve Been Lonely for So Long (B’Ham Rhythm Section v. Lambchop)

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:07:45 +0000

The original I’ve Been Lonely for So Long, performed by the B’Ham Rhythm Section, can be found on a compilation called The Burmingham Sound: the Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol. I. Lambchop’s version appears on What Another Man Spills from 1998, arguably the band’s most soulful and beautiful recording. Got Lamchop?

Let It Snow: a Christmas memory from NYC

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:51:34 +0000

The images of New York’s recent snow storm make me miss the City at this time of year. Thinking about my Christmastime-in-New York memories, one night from 2006 stands out. I had the privilege of seeing one of my favorite songwriters, Alejandro Escovedo, play with a string quartet at Carnegie Hall. I recorded the show with my new recorder and that audio is featured in the podcast portion of this post. The short podcast intro recounts the December night when, after seeing one of the top 5 concerts of my life, my date and I walked up to the majestic bar of the Pierre Hotel, just off the park. A song from Alejandro’s performance called Slow Down precedes the audio you’ll here from the Pierre, which is in the last minute of the podcast. My recordings of cabaret singer Kathleen Maddox playing and singing Christmas carols that night in her perfectly loungey style make for some of my favorite personal recordings. Absolutely holiday time in New York. Merry Christmas from EP.

Damien Dempsey’s Kilburn Stroll

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:55:02 +0000

Damien Dempsey’s Kilburn Stroll is taken from the Irish singer/songwriter’s 2007 release, To Hell or Barbados.

Ken Lee tulibu dibu douchoo

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:59:18 +0000

Ken Lee (“Can’t Live”) is a phonetic interpretation of Mariah Carey’s 1993 cover single and Badfinger’s classic love song “Without You” performed by Valentina Hasan, a contestant who auditioned for the Bulgarian TV show Music Idol in February 2008. Watch the famous video at KnowYourMeme.

Gettin’ Ready For Christmas Day

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:15:12 +0000

In February 1999 a college radio disc jockey named Lance Ledbetter set out on a mission to compile rare and essential recordings of vintage religious music. Four and a half years later the result of this journey was released as a box set called Goodbye, Babylon.

The set consists of five CDs featuring 135 Songs (1902-1960) and one CD featuring 25 Sermons (1926-1941). Accompanying the CDs is a 200 page book with Bible verses, complete lyric transcriptions, and notes for each recording. All of the components is reverently packed with raw cotton and housed in a deluxe 8″ x 11″ x 2.5″ cedar box. Bob Dylan sent the disc set to Neil Young a few years ago. Neil’s quoted as loving it.

Backwards Down the Number Line

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:09:13 +0000

It’s come to our attention that some people still have no respect for the rock band Phish. Pray for those haters and do your best to convince them to come to Indio, CA next year. They’ll see the light yet. Click to buy Backwards Down the Number Line or Joy, the 2009 album on which it appears.

Lake’s Christmas Island: a perfect song

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:08:47 +0000

Christmas Island: the perfect golden oldie circa 2009. LAKE are an Olympia, WA band that’s built to spill. The rotating cast of characters has been around since 2005, but 12 albums later, they’ve hit the nail on the head with Let’s Build a Roof. Buy it at the K Records website.

David “Fathead” Newman’s Hard Times

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:16:54 +0000

The talented David Newman, who alternates on this album between tenor and alto, made his debut as a leader at this session. Since he was in Ray Charles’ band at the time, Newman was able to use Charles on piano along with Hank Crawford on baritone, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, bassist Edgar Willis, and drummer Milt Turner.

Hans Reichel’s daxophone

info@earshotpresents.com (Earshot Presents) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:34:10 +0000

“The daxophone, invented by Hans Reichel, is a experimental musical instrument of the friction idiophones category. It consists of a thin wooden blade fixed in a wooden block (often attached to a tripod), which holds one or more contact microphones. Normally, it is played by bowing the free end…, but it can also be struck or plucked, which propagates sound in the same way a ruler halfway off a table does. These vibrations then continue to the wooden-block base, which in turn is amplified by the contact microphone(s) therein. A wide range of voice-like timbres can be produced, depending on the shape of the instrument, the type of wood, where it is bowed, and where along its length it is stopped with a separate block of wood (fretted on one side) called the “dax.”

Reichel has documented the construction of the instrument in a way that a skilled woodworker could build his own. Plans are downloadable from his website, with the nice twist that a collection of proven shapes for the blade is delivered in the file format of a font, thus playing on Reichel’s other profession as a typeface designer.”

The above came from Wikipedia

Hans Reicher recently released his second album in ten years entitled Lower Lurum.