Jesse Winchester, You're On My Mind

Word comes today that we've lost another storyteller.

Jesse Winchester was always slightly under the radar. A singer-songwriter whose career features the  theme of "if only." If only he had not been drafted for the Vietnam War, if only he had not fled to Canada to avoid it, if only it had not taken so many years to be able to sing in the United States. Still, he became known in Canada and it wasn't too long before people everywhere began to notice... especially musicians.

His songs have been covered wonderfully from Lyle Lovett, Rosanne Cash and Jimmy Buffett, to Reba McIntyre, Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams. Take a story of loss and longing, bring it down to the simplest terms, add in subtle yet descriptive lyrics and you end up with the purity of a Jesse Winchester song.

A few years ago, Jesse was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. A few friends, headed by Jimmy Buffett and Elvis Costello, got together to record an album of Jesse's music called Quiet About It. It's wonderful.

Here are a couple of tunes, both by Jesse and some of his friends.

Rosanne Cash " Biloxi"

Little Feat "Rhumba Man"

Jesse Winchester "Mississippi You're On My Mind"

Take a listen. Enjoy the melodies, enjoy the singing, but mostly enjoy the stories.

Easy journey Jesse.

.

Benmont Tench “You Should Be So Lucky” Album Review

Starting off a Monday morning by listening to some new releases, the first four albums became unlistenable after hearing barely ten minutes of each. As I looked down the list of recent releases, a cover photo got my attention because of its simplicity: a man and his piano. A quick look at the genre told me it was indie rock, and so I thought I would give this one last album a shot. All I really wanted at this point was something a little easier on the ears. What I heard, was so much more.

You Should Be So Lucky (Blue Note) is the first solo album by veteran keyboardist, and founding member of The Heartbreakers (as in Tom Petty and), Benmont Tench. A man known for his fingers, but not his vocals, this debut album is a fine example of waiting until you have something to say, and saying it without pretense or pushing too hard.

In music sometimes less is more, and that principle applies completely to You Should Be So Lucky. Conjure up a sound with equal parts of Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, then add a dusting of Dylan like the powdered sugar on a New Orleans beignet, and you get the overall feel of Lucky.

To read the rest of this review, please click on the link below to view it on the earthhertz.com website.

Benmont Tench “You Should Be So Lucky” review 

A Taste of the Bubbly and Elvis Costello

Because the artist picked in this week's 100 Word Song Challenge is an artist I've had on the list to showcase here on Kat's Theory of Music, and because word on the street is that he blew the doors off of Madison Square Garden the other night at a benefit for fighting teen cancer, it seemed as good a reason as any to enter the challenge again.

The artist for the day is Elvis Costello. It's been far too long to not have one of his songs featured here. The song for the challenge is "Brilliant Mistake."

For today's story, I thought I might combine a little history lesson as well. And even though it didn't happen quite like this, there is some fact behind this fiction.

I take you all to the wine making region of France, sometime in the late 1600's.

Today alone, nineteen bottles burst. The monk worried. With another shortened growing season the fermentation problems had continued. They could not stop the bubbles from forming.

The friar from the nearby Abbey burst through the door, barely containing his joy. “Dom Perignon, word comes from England. What we believed to be bad vintage is now the toast of London nobility. More, more, they cry.”

Hardly believing his ears, the monk rubbed his chin and spoke to his friend “We still have much work. The bottles, the wood stoppers… they must be changed. Perhaps these bubbles are not nature’s mistake. ”