Meanwhile in another part of the forest...

It may have gone a bit quiet here in the last couple of weeks, blame being able to earn a living - of sorts - again for that, but over at Americana UK I have been busy, busy. busy.

I wrote a piece on Karen Dalton for the feature AmericanA-Z. I had if I'm honest all but forgotten about her before someone suggested her as my subject. I'm not going to dwell on the

"tragic life story" thing because it doesn't relate to the music, which was a mix of early blues, country, and folk traditions imported from as many cultures as arrived at Ellis Island. The earthy, primitive sound is unlike anything else, try it.

Next up was an article on Willy DeVille/Mink DeVille. If you only know Spanish Stroll then try this 3CD set that covers his career as Mink, and afterwards. It does miss a couple of early highlights but is better than the alternative collections. Mojo have featured his album Cabretta as a lost treasure in their latest issue. So, 160gigblog first with the news again!

I wrote up a couple of top 10 features as well. One easy  - Internet radio and podcasts. There are some fab ones out there and the comments suggest at least one more that I hadn't tried. And one

harder - my top 10 ever Americana albums. Although looking back at things I've written here and at AUK the choices did end up being fairly obvious in some cases. I love exercises like this and as I'm never going to get on Desert Island Discs, especially not after this previous piece here, I take any opportunity to share my thoughts.

Lastly a shout out for my colleague Rick Bayles' obit on Judy Dyble. One of those artists who flew just under the radar her whole career. Mostly famous for being a "nearly" with Fairport Convention and the proto King Crimson of Giles, Giles and Fripp, both Trader Horn and particularly her late period solo albums are very much worth your attention. Visit Burning Shed for the best choice. Weavings of a Silver Magic gets my vote.

 

  

A Word In Your Ear

I was a long time reader of The Word. It always seemd to me to be about the most literary of the music magazines, and was disappointed when it closed. Reading Mark Ellen's "Rock Stars 'Stole My L

ife'" some of the reasons become apparent. Magazine publishing is clearly as harsh a world as music, and equally fascinating from the outside. This is a post I should have done ages ago, suggesting some books about music, musicians and all related matters that might appeal to you. And the first recommendation is Ellen's book, particularly the audio version which he narrates himself.

A Word In Your Ear is the podcast that has Ellen and his co-creator of The Word magazine David Hepworth interviewing authors about their books on music. During the current unpleasantness they have been conducting it from their attics and cupboards and the format has become looser. There is a huge archive of old shows which you should certainly sample.

Second recommendation is for anything writen by David Hepworth. His books are always thought provoking. His quiz book is fiendishly difficult, but worth persevering with. The last chapters or epilogues of many of his books are where he sums up his views on his subject, and would make a great book on their own. His next one about the British invasion is out in September. The only one I haven't read is the one that suggests 1971 as the best year in Rock. Well I was only 6 so I'm not sure I was taking much notice. Find Hepworth's books here.

Just about everyone is publishing their memoirs these days. My favourite is still Thomas Dolby's "Speed Of Sound". A fascinaiting insght into a life you would never have guessed. Chris Difford of Squeeze has written "Some Fantastic Place" which is a bit self serving in places, a frend who worked with his Squeeze partner Glenn Tillbrook paints a rather different picture, but it is another good portrait of "my" era in the early 80s. I'm looking forward to reading Will Birch's biography of Nick Lowe for the same reason. "Let the Good Times Roll" by Kenney Jones, of (Small) Faces, and Who fame is one to approach with caution. He spends as much time talking about his new life in Polo as he does on music, and seems typical of that generation of musicians who "made it" and have little clue about the real world.

Many of these and others are also on audiobooks, and that is my chosen way of consuming them. Much of the, "and then we went on tour, made an album, got divorced, got sober, and found enlightenment" type bio come alive when read by the protagonist.

And a last point. After reading and listening to many books about Miles Davis I can't find anything that truly sums up the man. Anything by Ashley Kahn on Jazz is usually great but even he fails to

capture what it was that made Miles unique. Good reason to read some more then.

One of the reasons for the lengthy gap in posts, apart from work picking up and the need to earn a living, is that Blogger has modernised itself and become nearly impossible to use. Fear not I have mastered it and will be back soon.