40/52; we have passed the equinox and are on a downhill toboggan ride to winter, my least favourite season. “I think Jamaica in the moonlight.” An American Dream can also be a Canadian Dream. We are considering a return to the island, hopefully soon. In the meantime, the Canadian Finals Rodeo finished yesterday, and I am in a cowboy frame of mind, so put your Stetson on and join the rodeo.

JC Miller – Blackberry Canes

A tip of the Stetson to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR for introducing me to this album. JC Miller has a good voice. I’m thinking/hearing early Springsteen gone Country. He has crafted an album here with a rich, lush sound. The steel guitar, the dobro, and the classic C/W feel to the album are all there. My only complaint is that the story and the country/western ethos get lost in that rich, lush sound and move closer to Americana than C/W. That doesn’t take away from the overall appeal of Blackberry Canes. Blackberry Canes is still a solid album that stands on its own, no matter which genre I try to press it into.

“The song ‘Blackberry Canes’ came about from thinking about the rambling, ramshackle path of growth sometimes. It’s not always a pretty pattern but it gets the job done, always reaching and somehow surviving… Blackberry trunks go sideways and every which way and travel a roundabout trail, never a straight line. It is a small passing thought really but it serves to remind us that you have to keep moving forward no matter what into the unknown just to grab the next beam of light,” says JC Miller.

I love eating blackberries, but the vines are painful. They are full of sharp spikes that could have woven an excellent crown of thorns for a certain somebody. I like the imagery that JC has weaved into the song Blackberry Canes. Life is not always pretty, but it is worth chasing, even when it comes to a blackberry grove.

‘Blackberry Canes’ video  https://youtu.be/3MNzMGf7IaI

Get the ‘Blackberry Canes’ single  https://bit.ly/3zac4tj

Apple Music  https://music.apple.com/us/album/blackberry-canes-single/1765673804   

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ySKSk7jQdclpGEUydQWXF

‘Tombstone Junction’  https://youtu.be/Q4vCqKZvkPU

‘Dead Horse Ranch’  https://youtu.be/lP5OqGNUZe8

‘Sundown Slim’  https://youtu.be/8r59SsGHx9M

‘Wayward Son’  https://youtu.be/0tCyhKv90LY

‘Before Nightfall’  https://youtu.be/Rnw87NgpNs8

Kris Kristofferson passed away last week, prompting me to listen to some of his albums. His early releases were my favourites, and I think they will still be good in another 20 years.

Kris Kristofferson – Collections

Collections is a terrible waste of a perfectly good CD. It sounds like it is pulled off a vinyl using a microphone, and it has more pops and crackles than any of the vinyl recordings that I have of Kristofferson, and some have been to rough and rowdy parties. See below for the details.

Kris Kristofferson – Jesus Was A Capricorn

Jesus Was A Capricorn is a great album, according to WeatheredMusic.ca. It is full of great songs, such as the title track, Jesus Was A Capricorn, which the liner notes tell us that Kristofferson owed to John Prine, another great songwriter and performer Jesse Younger and Why Me, are songs that stand strong 52 years after they were recorded. It’s a delightful recording.

Kris Kristofferson – The Silver Tongued Devil And I

I can’t cherry-pick any songs off this album to tell you how good this recording is. It is one great song after another. It contains one of his biggest hits, Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again). It was a hit for Kristofferson and a hit recording for Roger Miller in the same year, 1971. Tompall & the Glaser Brothers took Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again) to the charts in 1981. This song has a truckload of recordings by other artists, some better than others.

Other versions

• Waylon Jennings recorded the song for his 1971 album The Taker / Tulsa.
• Billie Jo Spears recorded the song as “Loving Him Was Easier (than anything I’ll ever do again)” in 1977 for her album If You Want Me.
• Nana Mouskouri recorded the song as “Loving Him Was Easier” in 1982 for her album Song for Liberty.
• Willie Nelson and Dyan Cannon recorded the song as “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” for the film Honeysuckle Rose.
• Anita Carter with Billy Sanford (gt) Recorded 29 January 1971
• Skeeter Davis with Vocal Accompaniment by The Jordanaires and The Nashville Edition, 1972.
• Billy Ray Cyrus recorded the song for his 2016 album Thin Line.
• The Highwaymen performed the song during their American Outlaws tour in 1990; the song′s featured on their compilation album Live: American Outlaws (2016).
• All of these add up to the royalty pennies; that is why he was able to retire to Hawaii.

Phil Keaggy – Private Collection Vol. 1

This album shows us some of his guitar skills. I enjoyed Private Collection Vol. 1 the best of the vinyl I have with his name on it. I have two CDs and 8 Cassettes that I will have to get around to playing one of these days. Perhaps when I have listened to all of the Zolas records, I will venture into the cassette realm. I hesitated to do that because there have been fewer cassettes in Discogs, and I don’t enjoy putting them in manually. On second thought, I will do CDs after the vinyl—cassettes after that, and then 8 tracks, reel to reel, and lastly, wire recordings.

Wilfred N and the Grown Men – Passing Through

I have other recordings by Wilfred N and the Grown Men (henceforth known as WN&tGM), and since I am always on the lookout for more material from them, I was pleased to acquire this CD from a gentleman through Kijiji. This CD has been sitting in my car for a week, and after listening to it umpteen times, I can confidently say that this is my new favourite by WN&tGM. His voice evoked memories of David Bryne, and the music at times felt influenced by The Talking Heads. It was not a blatant ripoff. It was a compliment to The Talking Heads by using their music as a springboard to something new. I’ll let this sit on the shelf and see how well it holds up to a second listen sometime down the road. I hope it will be as good as the first listen because that was favourable.

The Klaxxons – Clap Clap Sound!

And now for something completely different. I was unable to find any information about The Klaxxons. I know they are an accordion band and play music that I associate with the town of Smoky Lake, Alberta, and the Ukrainian heritage of that town. Playing this album has been an enjoyable diversion.

Doug Kershaw – Alive & Pickin’

While it seemed that Kershaw had appeared out of nowhere in the outlaw county music of the 1970s, he had, in fact, already sold millions of copies of the records he had made in the early ’60s with his brother, Rusty. “Louisiana Man” had been a Top 10 country hit in 1961, and its follow-up, “Diggy Liggy Lo,” had done almost as well.

Alive & Pickin’ gives us a quick overview of his music from the time with his brother in the early ’60s to the release of this live album in 1975. He plays cajun music with a backing band that perfectly fits Kershaw’s voice, fiddle playing, and choice of songs. I don’t generally listen to Cajun music, so Doug Kershaw fills that gap in my music catalogue, and it is an enjoyable diversion.

Doug Kershaw – The Best of Doug Kershaw The Louisiana Man

This record is almost a song-for-song copy of the Alive & Pickin’ album. The main difference is that one is live, and the other is studio recordings. The live version has flourishes that the studio album lacks, but the studio album has a cleaner sound. Take your pick; they are both excellent records.

Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching

I have listened to the music of Ezra Collective for a good bit now. Dance, No One’s Watching is only their third album and is just as good as their first two. An interesting side note is that I do not have any of their recordings on physical material. I’ll have to look at the jazz section at https://www.recordcollectorsparadise.ca on Wednesday.

An Ezra Collective or King Crimson will leave the store with me if we have either one in stock, which is a pretty high chance, knowing how deep their catalogue is.

Speaking of King Crimson, I will begin my journey through their catalogue this week. I pulled the albums, all 12, and I still need two of their albums on vinyl. I must remedy that situation since they are one of my deserted island bands. After I have listened to them chronologically, I will post my thoughts regarding their recordings. The photo below was taken in the London Royal Albert Hall in 2019, King Crimson put on an amazing concert.

In the meantime, happy listening my friends and remember that there is no bad music, just some that is better than others.