Category Archives: In memoriam

Hank Cochran Passes On

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Hank Cochran, one of country music’s most storied and prolific songwriters who wrote songs for Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold, Merle Haggard, George Strait an many others passed away yesterday morning. His Wikipedia bio reads like a  Mother lode for source for country gold:

Born during the Great Depression in Isola, Mississippi, he contracted pneumonia, whooping cough, measles and mumps all about the same time at age 2. The doctor didn’t think that he would survive. His parents divorced when he was 9, he moved with his father to Memphis, Tennessee, but then went to an orphanage. He was sent to live with his grandparents, in Waynesboro, Mississippi, after he had run away from the orphanage twice. His uncle Otis Cochran taught him how to play the guitar as the pair hitchhiked  from Mississippi to southeastern New Mexico to work in the oilfields.

and my persoan favorite.

While working at publishing company Pamper Music, he used to spend nights playing at a Nashville bar called Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. While there a new guy showed up and Cochran was amazed, he then encouraged management to sign the young songwriter, Willie Nelson, giving Nelson a raise that was coming to him at the time.

This from the press release:

Last night, Jamey Johnson, Billy Ray Cyrus and Buddy Cannon dropped by to sing songs with Hank, and this morning the legendary songwriter was surrounded by family and friends when he passed away at his Hendersonville, Tennessee home. A private, family memorial will be held in the near future, and a public service will follow. Details will be forthcoming.

The family asks that you respect their privacy at this time and, in lieu of flowers, request those wishing to honor Hank make donations to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation.

Hank was inducted in to the Nashville Songwriters Association International Hall of Fame by unanimous vote in 1974, and was honored by B.M.I. in June 2009 for his six-decade long career of hits, that includes country classics: “I Fall To Pieces,” “Make The World Go Away,” “Ocean Front Property,” “The Chair” and “Don’t You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOl8RdBLTKc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

To all who have served.

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I want to share one of my favorite songs for this holiday weekend. The Ballad of Ira Hayes, written by the folk singer Peter La Farge,  tells the story of Ira Hayes, a Pima Native American and one of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who raised the flag  on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Hayes came home to a hero’s welcome, but after the grandeur had subsided he went on to live a troubled life of alcoholism and depression. On January 24, 1955, Hayes was found dead, lying face down in the mud. I don’t write to this to depress you, I, and I believe the song, just want to remind America we need to take care of these soldiers when they get home.

The song has been recorded many times; the most popular version is by Johnny Cash.Others that have covered the song are Patrick Sky, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Kinky Friedman.

Thanks to all that serve and have served. We are proud of you.

Please share some of your favorites below.

Happy Birthday Gram Parsons

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On this day was born in Winter Haven, Florida, 1946 the man that would, with his bands – International Submarine Band, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, fuse the  genres of country and rock and roll and change the landscape of both forever.

Gram Parsons was also pivotal in introducing Emmylou Harris, then a single-mother and folk singer working in coffee houses outside Washington, D.C., to country music and her to the world.

Gram Parsons certainly earned his place in music history within his short life (he died of a drug overdose at the age of 26 in a hotel room in Joshua Tree, California) and certainly blongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame , alongside one of 2008’s inductees Emmylou Harris.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BITiY8M_oDo[/youtube]

News Round Up: Lucero Releases New Videos ; RIP Amy Ferris

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  • I learned yesterday from a post on Twitter by Austin singer/songwriter Kelly Willis alerted me that Austin native fiddle player Amy Farris had been found dead at her residence in Los Angeles at the age of 40. Suicide is suspected, but an investigation is currently underway. Farris was a talented fiddle player and had recently been part of the group Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. Her only solo release, Anyway, was produced by Alvin in 2003. Farris was scheduled to play Saturday with the Guilty Women at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. As of this writing her name is still on the schedule.
  • Hear Rosanne Cash’s new release The List at NPR, including an iTunes exclusive cut featuring Neko Case, Satisfied Mind.
  • Miranda Lambert will appear on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight. Lambert also tweets that Jimmy Fallon is cute and sweet. Aww!
  • PopMatter’s Bob Proehl posts a nice piece on the legacy of Kris Kristoffersson.
  • Memphis, Tennessee-based Alt.country band Lucero commissioned a music video for each song on their upcoming record 1372 Overton Park– making 12 videos total. The level of sophistication of each fan-turned-videographer ranged from “some holding only handy-cams, others with years of training under their belt.” Ceck out the first two videos for What Are You Willing To Lose? and Goodbye Again.

Texas Monthly Features Five Texas Music Legends

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  • Texas Monthly’s Pitch Perfect features five legendary Texas musicians—Guy Clark, Patty Griffin, Sonny Throckmorton, Robert Earl Keen, and Jack Ingram— and asks them to sgare the mystic secrets to writing a great country song.  It’s a funny, informative a great read.
  • The nominees for the 20th International Bluegrass Music Awards Awards has been announced (Yay SteelDrivers!) The ceremony will be hosted by Grammy-winning country artist Kathy Mattea and the legendary bluegrass band, Hot Rize, on Thursday, October 1, 2009, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Legendary guitar pioneer Les Paul died today at the age of 94 at White Plains Hospital due to complications from pneumonia.
  • More info on Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Son Volt’s Jay Farrar work for the upcoming Jack Kerouac soundtrack collaborative album entitled “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur.”  The twelve song set is due October 20 via F-Stop/Atlantic and will serve as the soundtrack to the Kerouac documentary of the same title.  Farrar and Gibbard were approached by the filmmakers in 2007 about writing music for the film, which documents the events surrounding the author’s time spent in the Big Sur region of California.

John Dawson Passes at 64.

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  • Although it’s over a year old there is a great article (Facing the Music) on the seismic changes in the music industry through the lens of Music City and some of the unique ways some people are planning for the future instead of wringing their hands or suing their fans. The article was by Donnie Snow for businesstn.com
  • John “Marmaduke” Dawson, a longtime Grateful Dead collaborator who co-wrote “Friend of the Devil” and who, along with Jerry Garcia, developed a devoted following with his psychedelic country group New Riders of the Purple Sage, has died at the age of 64 from stomach cancer. (via the 9513 and Spinner.com)
  • Paste Magazine spends some time with Americana Music Association executive director Jed Hilly. Jed discusses the growing influence of the genre, the Recording Academy adding an Americana Album of the Year Grammy for 2010 and that you need not be an American to play Americana. As a member of the AMA I’m glade to see some cred coming.

Benefit Album for Evan Phillips to Be Released

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  • NineBullets.net has some good things to say about the new Scott H Biram’s Blooshot Records release Something’s Wrong / Lost Forever.
  • Kelly Dearmore at Twangville.com (no relation) praises the new The Dexateens release Singlewide.
  • A new Magnolia Electric co. album josephine will be released by secretly canadian on july 21st, 2009. Get a free mp3 of the title track over in the Magnolia Electric co.web site. In support the record they’ll head out july 10th on a month long tour crossing the U.S followed by a few weeks of full-band touring in Europe.
  • An benefit album to help Evan Phillips, – the principle songwriter for acclaimed Alaskan alt.country rock band The Whipsaws – pay medical costs associated with a debilitating chronic injury he sustained 7 years ago climbing is tentatively scheduled to release in Alaska and online on June 15. The album features acclaimed roots and alt.country artists like T, Nile, Matt Hopper, Aaron Lee Tasjan, The Devil Whales, Marty Jones and more all covering Phillips songs. Check the official MySpace site for more information and to listen to cuts from featured artists.

Jay Bennett, Ex-Wilco Member, Dead at 45

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Jay Bennett, the former Wilco multi-instrumentalist, passed away in his sleep on early Sunday morning (May 24) due to unknown causes. He was 45.

Bennett was best known for his work with Wilco, the group for which he wrote and recorded on 1996’s “Being There,” 1999’s “Summerteeth” and 2002’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” as well as the band’s Woody Guthrie themed albums with Billy Bragg, “Mermaid Avenue” and “Mermaid Avenue, Volume 2.” He was currently living in Urbana, Illinois and working on his fifth album, “Kicking at the Perfumed Air.”

Bennett’s turbulant departure from Wilco was well-documented andplayed out in the public eye. Earlier this month, Bennett filed suit against Wilco leader (and founder of Uncle Tupelo) Jeff Tweedy for “breach of contract” for alleged non-compensation for his appearance in the 2002 Wilco documentary, “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” as well as “unpaid royalties” for work throughout his tenure with the band. The suit was said to be for at least $50,000.

There is speculation that a working musician like Bennett is always at risk, like a majority of Americans, because they lack adequite health insurance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ZKHljySfI[/youtube]

RIP Stephen Bruton

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  • The fine folks at the 9513 brought to my attention the sorry news that Kris Kristofferson’s longtime guitarist Stephen Bruton has succumbed to throat cancer.
  • Country music legends Charley Pride and Marty Stuart and bluesman Pinetop Perkins will headline the third annual Mississippi Grammy gala.
  • Recycle your cell phones to support Nuci’s Space and get free merch coupons from the Drive-By Truckers official Store!
  • The New York Times has a piece on Steve Earle and his course in recording his trubute to his mentor Texas singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt.