Music du Jour

At this point, I've blogged about sports, and I've blogged about politics. My other hobby, music, has yet to be addressed. This semester I'm teaching a class in Popular Music and Youth Culture. It's a blast. I teach my students about old music and how it affected youth, and eventually, my students teach me about the same thing, since I'm not as in touch with the new music as much as I would like to be.

Anyways, here is what I've been listening to this week:

1) Warren Zevon, Warren Zevon (1976)

I just got the first Warren Zevon album recently, and its a fantastic piece of music. Zevon came out of the singer-songwriter movement in the California 70s scene, and even though Jackson Browne produced this album and there are other Eagles and such that sing background on it, you cannot consider Zevon to be in the same genre if only because of his acrid wit. "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," later covered memorably by Linda Ronstadt, and "Mohammed's Radio" make this plain. A great album.

2) The Gourds, Heavy Ornamentals (2006)

The Gourds continue to be my favorite band of all time from Austin, Texas. This band has such a great combination of country, punk, tex-mex, and pop sounds. Their new album isn't as great as some of their earlier works, but it is still worth listening to. And they are still one of the best live acts I've ever seen. They were in Carrboro a couple of weeks ago, opening for Susan Tedeschi, who herself is an amazing talent.

3) Randy Newman, Good Old Boys (1973)

I just recently started getting into Randy Newman. This album is one kick-ass group of songs. Wry, political, and beautiful at the same time. "Louisiana, 1927" got some air time in the wake of Katrina last year, and its a heartbreaking song. There is a lot of wisdom and provacateuring in this album. I highly recommend it.