Happy 4th! Now get your American on

So, it's not that I'm lazy, I promise...it's that I think you are - which is completely fine on a day off, mind you. You should be out of the office like me, playing in the hills, listening to music and drinking coffee with friends and family. So, if you are reading this, thank you very much. But, listen to the songs, smile and then get back outside. Nonetheless, Happy 4th of July! I'll post on two songs today that have roots in the heart of America. No, I'm not talking Cougar Mellencamp's Midwest. I'm talking New York and New Jersey, the core of America's melting pot.

It would be anti-American if I were to post on American rock and roll with a reference of the east coast with out highlighting The Boss. What is the single act one can do to prove he or she is the MOST AMERICAN? Simple. Go put on some trashed Levi's, a white v-neck and drive a convertible Ford Mustang down route 66 with an American flag on your antennae - all while blasting Bruce Springsteen over your speakers. Extra points if you stop for a vanilla shake and some Freedom Fries at the diner along the way.

Bruce Springsteen - Born In the U.S.A.

I can admit that my generation doesn't see Simon and Garfunkel as the quintessential American music icons like The Boss. hell, high schoolers nowadays probably think Kid Rock or Fall Out Boy as true American rooted rockers. Yikes. I will say that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have influenced American Music deeper than most realize through their writing, Latin and folk infused styles, coupled with the era in which they drew upon and sang about. As told to me, they owned and formed much of the 60's culture as the most successful folk-rock duo. "America" was written by Paul Simon and released in 1968 on the album Bookends. It dances around the notion of a fictional trip of discovering or finding America (the social trends and inner-culture) with Kathy Chitty, Simon's girlfriend from his time in England. We can dig deeper to cover references to the Beatles, Dylan, Diamond and more, but it's the 4th of July so I'll let you peruse should you feel so inclined. I chose a version of "America" from Simon and Garfunkel's album Old Friends: Live On Stage, that captured live performances in New York and New Jersey in 2003.


Simon & Garfunkel - America (live)

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…

Vampire Weekend - It's Paul Simon for the Young Folk

I had a busy week a bit ago with a few trips to the Fox Theater, an outing to Red Rocks to see Death Cab, Modest Mouse and Rapid Eye Movement (although REM acted more like lethargic blinks of rigomortis settling in) and a surprise visit on the street with a former member of Sonia Dada (remember them?). I’ve been hard at work this week finishing up the initial soundtrack line-up for a movie I’m supervising and of course completing my regular routine at my work place. It seems that 2-3 times a day I hear the same song from one of my two co-workers’ desks as they listen to numerous indie and pop streams that we produce. Each time the song comes on I start drumming my fingers on the desk and singing “Hey hey hey hey” without even thinking about it.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Vampire Weekend is a young band from the New York area and has been seeing a ton of press lately. I first received their scrambled and un-mastered album almost a year ago and I immediately took a liking to it although I had no clue what the songs were titled as they coded them in satirical titles to keep anyone from releasing it publicly. I heard influences of Paul Simon (Graceland, Songs of the Capeman), Talking Heads, and then some full-on indie rock that New York City seems to produce so much of. Their self-titled debut album was recently released on XL Recordings and has been selling off the shelves at my local independent music store.

They’re young, so I guessed they must have dropped out of school a bit back to already be involved in such a composed group. All Vampire Weekend members actually met at Columbia University and self-produced their first self-titled album (released off of XL Recordings) AFTER graduation. They got their name from a film they produced that “told the story of a boy named Walcott charged by an elder to dispatch a vampiric horde in Cape Cod and escape…” - Wiki article (so we know it’s true) Weird? Yes. But, when you see the song titles from their first album, you’ll see “Wolcott,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and a well-penned song about the arguable use of a comma when writing – “Oxford Comma.” This isn’t too far off from their roots – they were in a band called L’Homme Run, specializing in comedic-rap. They were my first pick “to break” in 2008 in our yearly album guesses here at work and they haven’t let me down yet. Their schedule is full of festivals of all sizes and they recently have been making the SNL, magazine, blog and Late Show circuit.

You won’t see Paul Simon dancing with Chevy Chase and you won’t see the 80s style of Talking Heads and Byrne’s spastic movements . You will see one of my favorite videos** of the year with their lead singer, Ezra, coming up to the front to sing to you, and only you