New Gomez single and tour announced!

After a an extended halftime break, the Gomez boys are back with a new single, a Bonnaroo slot and a tour. They were my "concert of the year" back in 2005 when they kicked the hell out of Boulder's Fox Theater and the rambunctious crowd. The Southport ragamuffins have been blogging a bit to hype up their new album and just announced a North American tour that kicks off in March. Better yet, a few lucky venues get to see Gomez co-headlining with Mountain Tempo favorite, Josh Ritter. I swear to everything holy that if Gomez co-headlines with Josh Ritter in Colorado, my middle name will "Lucky Day."

And as mentioned above, Gomez is giving us a taste of their ATO Records release, A New Tide, available in late March. Here's some lobe tickling for you.
Gomez - Airstream Driver

Josh Ritter, thin flame to wildfire

So one of my pet peeves is when people say "I have a lot of best friends." Yeah, can you really pluralize "best" or "favorites"? If you were to ask me who my favorite singer-songwriter was, I'd rack my brain analyzing the showmanship, songwriting, performance styles, lyrics, compositions, etc, between Ray Lamontagne, David Gray, Damien Rice, Gregory Alan Isakov, Bright Eyes and my boy, Josh Ritter. Stephen King hailed Ritter's "Girl In the War" from The Animal Years as one of the best examples of songwriting of the decade. Many industry notables have hailed him the receiver of the torch Springsteen and Dylan will pass. I will tell you this. I've listened to Ritter's "Thin Blue Flame" (my generation's version of Dylan's "A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall") well over 200 times. Easily. I'm still not through sifting the deep metaphors, the biblical and pop historical references and complete direction contained within that masterful ballad. I will also say that though my favorite Ritter concert is not my favorite concert of all time, I've undoubtedly never ever seen anyone happier and more appreciative to be what he is doing while on stage.


Paste Magazine just unveiled Josh Ritter's newest ruby, a live version of "Wildfires." I say ruby because let's be honest folks, Josh's artillery is strong and a ruby among a collection of diamonds is still pretty damn nice. From his Live At The 9:30 Club mini-release, comes a bonus song from the Irish Edition, out on Independent Records. Sorry, it's not available in the U.S. just yet, but my Pennsylvania pen pal always seems to jump boarders and round up some obscure Ritter releases for me. Happy Friday to you, especially when you have some Ritter in company.

Josh Ritter - Wildfires (live)

errr. dispatch: commerce city

For those of you who didn't read my intro to The Mountain Tempo's new contributor, please read the post from yesterday. If you're too lazy, let me say that since this blog was imagined, I've wanted this dear sir to be involved...because in a way, he already has. Apart my job in the industry of receiving new tunes on a daily basis, Sam is by far the most influential component of my musical spectrum. To explain would take me multiple posts. And, he is the only person to make what I deem the 'best mix ever.' Ladies and gentlemen, the Mountain Tempo is proud to introduce the first of many installments by samuel hayes miller...no CAPS, mind you.


dispatch: commerce city
mile high music fest day 1:
arriving in my office this morning, i half expected my banker to call me. the conversation i imagined went something like this:

banker: sam, uh, hey. its jeff. listen um, an identity theft alert popped up on my computer here, it appears you, ah, or someone pretending to be you, pulled out quite a lot of money from ATM's at the mile high festival over the weekend....

sam: ummm, no, yea, no, right. that was me.

banker: (silence)

sam: (clears throat).......the beers were eight dol...

banker: (interrupting) sam, you pulled out several hundred dollars!

sam: really!?

banker: look, sam, i like tom petty as much as the next middle class laborer, but 200 hundred dollars in bud light bills is just bad form.

sam: how'd you know i was drinking bud light..?

banker: (rolling eyes) lucky guess, look, were gonna need to move some money around, these ATM fees are killing you, couldn't’t you have swung by a gas station on your way in, jesus man!

sam: (silence) i...

(long pregnant pause)

banker: ....well, was it a good show at least?

sam: .......yes?
_____________________________
I choose a question mark at the end of my imagined conversation with severe purpose. The Mile High Music Fest (MHMF) is like a boys weekend in Vegas, you feel invincible at the time, but as the weekend winds down, in this case as Dave Mathews marched out his typical line-up of late-nineties familiars, you begin to feel a deep and aching sense of loss. Specifically, economic loss. You probably shouldn't have purchased those 7 dollar won-tons and why, oh why were you drinking 8 dollar Bud Lights hand over fist. It’s not like we are in a robust market right now. The ability to enjoy the raspy tones of Spoon frontman Britt Daniel or the sweaty, hands-in-air-get-down under The Roots tent, is relatively hindered.

However, despite all this, there were certainly good times to be had in the wilds of Commerce City, CO.

Josh Ritter:
Expertly outfitted in thin fitting suits, overhand mustaches and derby hats, Ritter’s band looked like a collision between the set of There will be Blood and Darjeeling Limited. Ritter often bothered me with his calculated recordings and over-thought lyrics but his live show feels far more lived in. The songs take on a great identity that his studio work feels stripped of. It appears that looking out over a crowd affirms for him that he is loved and that, yes, we all know his lyrics and that he can be a bit spontaneous. This is a good bet for a third date as its easy, approachable but edgy enough to prove that your reading up on your music blogs. B+

Andrew Bird:
I couldn't hide my pleasure in seeing Mr. Bird on the lineup at MHMF. Perhaps better suited for Monolith, Bird drew a good crowd of visor wearing, as-yet-to-be-converted and left them all thinking, "I don't know what to call it but....its great!". Andrew Bird is like a rare collectible you find in an antique store - curious and odd but ultimately one of your secret loves. Go. Listen. Smile. Incidentally, you'll never find a more impressive whistler. Yes, whistler. A-

Mofro:
J.J. Grey, the Jacksonville, Florida native with the delicious southern drawl, spent the entire show wielding the unmistakable red cup, or "traveller" , as he covered Otis Redding standards and hammered away on the Hammond. While a touch reminiscent of the jam-band/horns heavy late nineties, Mofro knows how to make you wish you were down south at a craw fish boil knee deep in Mint Juleps. While Mofro isn't new, its a rugged soul sound reminiscent of a late sixties Whiskey-A-Go-Go show that will not disappoint. Best if seen outside with alcohol. B+

Mofro - Lazy Fo Acre

Spoon:
Let me preface this by saying i love Spoon in a special thank-you-for-saving-rock kind of way. Their songwriting is a proud re-invention of the rock genre that is at once unmistakable and surprising. But, they did not command any more power live than on their albums. Perhaps it was the 90+ degrees weather (although they're from Austin) or perhaps the charm of Denver's thin air was not so winning, whatever the case, they themselves seemed thin. Frontman, Britt Daniel hit every note in his falsetto handbag, but appeared almost bored with himself. Nevertheless, Don't Make Me A Target rang out proudly with his perfectly pitched, realist lyrics. Buy the records, but be prepared for a louder, less insistent live performance.
*A-
*strong marks given since a mediocre Spoon still murders its competition.

Spoon - Don't Make Me A Target

Tom Petty:
Get some beer. Throw down a blanket and ask nothing more from a man who has carved out a spot in all of our hearts, somewhere. Perhaps small, it’s in there if you look hard enough. I could have done without the Steve Winwood guest appearance, but that’s probably because he brings flashbacks of tight-rolled pants or something equally upsetting. Petty sounds good, but unless your into the stadium mass rock audience, he is simply a pleasant finish to a long festival day. Good show to get the parents out of the house.
B

What's Your Summersong?

I'm going to put this out there and if you like, take it. And if you don't, you can send it right back: By the looks of it, I'm guessing no school or parent would let any member of the band Eels near their children. Looks are only skin deep, but I think their skin is pretty thick.

I was asked at work the other day what my summersong was and Eels' "Fresh Feeling" was the first thing that popped to mind. Why? This song seems to pop up almost daily during my 4-mile morning bike ride to work, creating the perfect soundtrack to the rolling fields, streams, llamas, horses, sheep, cows and bridges I pass each day en route to my music industry job in Boulder.

Birds singing a song,
old pain is peeling,
this is that fresh
that fresh feeling.
Words can't be that strong,
my heart is real,
this is that fresh,
that fresh feeling.

Without taking the time to write-out, ponder and second guess a list of my top 5 Summersongs, here they are in no particular order apart from #1:
1. Eels - Fresh Feeling
2. Apostle of Hustle - My Sword Hand's Anger
3. Delta Spirit - People, Turn Around
4. Josh Ritter & Hilary Hahn - Girl In the War (live)
5. Frightened Rabbit - Backwards Walk

Why else do I love this song?
1. A friend recently put this on a mix and though I'd heard it before, this seemed to be one of the songs that needed a re-introduction to my playlist.
2. Yet another song originally introduced to me by Braff and Scrubs

The Fab Channel

I can't keep a hidden gem from you for too long, it wouldn't be fair. Now let's keep in mind that I don't condone pushing traffic away from my blog. Rather, let's just say you keep checking in every day and when you're busy at work and you need some music in your background besides Pandora or iTunes, I'm giving you another option.

The Fab Channel is an online concert archive featuring over 900 live concerts from artists of all sizes and from genres across the board. With a team of 25+ producers, directors, camera people (only PC here at The Mountain Tempo), interns, editors and (I'm assuming) a great legal/licensing brain, Fab Channel have been allowed to capture full-length shows from the famous venues, Paradiso and Melkweg Amsterdam.

Among showcasing rising hip hop stars, punk, R&B, electronic, and indie rock from around the world, they have been given permission to film some of my favorites, including Damien Rice, Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes and Josh Ritter. Not only can a viewer pick and choose which song to watch from the setlist, Fab Channel, like Pandora, recommends similar artists, provides a brief bio on each artist and allows you to build a playlist of songs from multiple artists/concerts.

So, take a listen/look at Fab Channel or watch my favorite two shows Iron & Wine || Josh Ritter.

Damien Rice Part 2:Cameos and a new album?

As I mentioned before, it is odd (or isn't it?) how artists collaborate with other artists in the same genre regardless of personality, schedule, origin, etc. Maybe it's because they wanted to impress me...or most likely because each share that one common root: phenomenally outstanding songwriting and singing. I won't do a full history lesson of a song like I did for Ritter or trace roots and vast webs of friends in great detail. I'll just catch you up a bit on Damien Rice in Part 2:

As mentioned in Part 1, Damien has spent time busking on the streets after leaving his previous band, Jupiter, who went on to form Bell X1. Through his musical connections in Ireland, Rice is also part of a band that is a collection of various musicians. Ready for this? The Cake Sale features Lisa Hannigan (remember her voice on "9 Crimes?"), Paul Noonan (Bell X1), Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Nick Seymour and Graham Hopkins (Crowded House), Nina Persson (The Cardigans) and two more little guys in the industry - Josh Ritter and Glen Hansard (Once, The Frames, The Swell Season, helped start both Ritter and Rice...).

Rice has also collaborated and performed with the heirarchy of my creme de la creme list. Thanks to a head's up last year by my musical detective over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, I was elated to find out that Damien Rice had performed with Ray Lamontagne in France to cover a Bee Gee's classic.

Damien Rice & Ray Lamontagne - To Love Somebody (live)

In 2007, Rice joined the stage with David Gray for Live Earth's leg at Wembley Stadium, London, to cover the 1956 pop song, Que Sera, Sera.

Damien Rice and David Gray - Que Sera, Sera (live)

And don't worry, according to Damien's site, he'll be coming out with another recording soon. He just finished a 10-day road trip where, he and friends drove (in a mini, mind you) from Ireland to Barcelona armed with a portable recording studio. His goal was to stop along the way in random places where he aimed to write and record a new song in each of the ten days and then compile each recording on a new album, Nuevo. We'll see...

Greats paying homage to the Greats

Recently, it seems there's been a small, but noticable surge of modern artists expanding their music beyond current borders by expanding or integrating their genre into others. Whether it be acquiring an extra musician, covering a difficult piece or playing with an entire orchestra, The Mountain Tempo is here to fill you in, if just a bit.

Case 1: Josh Ritter - According to his website, Ritter has an upcoming concert at the Symphony Hall in Boston with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, featuring a special reading from Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. In addition, NPR recently aired a performance of Josh Ritter with violin virtuoso, Hilary Hahn, the 28 year-old Grammy winning artist who graduated with a bachelor's in music at the age of 19. Given Ritter's soothing voice and his reputation of this generations best songwriter, it should be no surprise that adding in a violinist who's already performed with orchestras across the globe just might make your skin tingle.

Josh Ritter and Hilary Hahn - Girl In The War (Live at the Met Museum)

Case 2: Chris Thile
Yes, Chris Thile has also shared some performances with Hilary Hahn. But, Thile also released a Live: Duets, available on Sugarhill Records, with Mike Marshall where they re-made a version of Bach's "Dm Gigue."

Chris Thile and Mike Marshall - J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations, Var. No. 1

And if you want to see if he really can pick that fast...

Case 3: Trace Bundy - I couldn't talk about paying homage to classical greats and leave Trace Bundy out of the mix. A Boulder local, Bundy has floored audiences with his ability to work the guitar as a whole beyond what most deemed possible. Trace often fills the neck of his guitar with multiple capos, each with cut slots in them, to allow certain strings to run past the capo. In addition, Bundy picks and slaps the guitar and strings with both hands simutaneously, giving the effect of mulitple guitars and percussion instruments playing all at once. Most don't believe it possible until seeing him live or visiting YouTube. Anywhoo, I bring Trace Bundy into this conversation becuase of his adaptation of Pachelbel's Canon. Immediately after I saw him perform this live, I knew he'd be the one to play my wedding while everyone filtered in. Now I only need a wedding...

750 years of history: Scarborough Fair to Josh Ritter

Isn’t it sometimes odd how small the world is with all of our small networks and connections? I did a bit of research about some of my favorite artists and found a unique family tree that roots in England circa 1253 and connects my favorite artist (Paul Simon) with Bob Dylan, Sam Bush, Johnny Cash and Josh Ritter. I’m sure it would keep branching if I did more research but I’ll give you a concise timeline below and how I was excited to know that my favorite artist directly influenced one of my new favorites, Josh Ritter.

Ready? Here we go, in reverse chronological order:

One of my favorite artists of the past few years is Josh Ritter, a young singer-songwriter who has been dubbed by many (consultants, me, Rolling Stone writers, critics, bloggers across the web, fellow artists…) as the best songwriter of “our” generation. During a recent interview, he said he picked up the guitar and birthed a career the moment he heard Johnny Cash join Bob Dylan (another favorite of mine) in the re-recording of “Girl From The North Country”/”Girl Of The North Country” off of Dylan’s 1969 album, Nashville Skyline. I could go on and on about this song and the history it has in terms of contributors, writers, changes of verses, and Dylan’s multiple versions…but let’s not open another can of worms.

As a side note, let’s involve bluegrass now. Sam Bush, a staple in the bluegrass world, became popular with a cover of Dylan and Cash’s version of this song. I know Sam Bush has a barrage of songs, but it’s hard to deny this song brought him extra record sales and more fans.

When researching Dylan’s song that inspired Ritter, I came across the name of Martin Carthy, a British musician, who I knew had connections to Paul Simon’s emergence. I found out that Dylan’s lyrics and melody in “Girl From The North County” were inspired by Martin Carthy’s arrangement of “Scarborough Fair.” In fact, Dylan sings a direct line from Carthy’s version with “remember me to the one who lives there; she once was a true love of mine.” Two years after Dylan’s lines made vinyl, Martin Carthy met Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in London to teach them his arrangement of the now-popular “Scarborough Fair.”

Remember, this song was not penned by Simon and Garfunkel OR Martin Carthy…it was only arranged by one and made popular by the duo (trio). “Scarborough Fair” is a traditional English ballad dating from 1253 when King Henry III granted the village/resort of Scarborough to hold a “fair” each summer, allowing tradesmen from multiple countries to market and trade goods of all sorts in a common location. Now, if my mom did her research, she’d come to find out that “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” actually have deeper meanings and may not have painted them in our kitchen.

750 years after King Henry III initiated Scarborough’s Fair, Josh Ritter sang “Bone of Song” on his 2003 Hello Starling album, from Signature Sounds Records. When Ritter sings this song live, he often dedicates it to Johnny Cash.

Josh Ritter - Bone of Song

If you like Josh Ritter or this song, I’m just guessing you’ll like Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and probably others like Ray Lamontagne, Amos Lee, The Frames, Glen Hansard, Conor Oberst, Griffin House and the lighter side of The Boss (Bruce Springsteen). Want more references?…listen to this song and research: Osiris, Kathleen Mavourneen, Magnificat…