Dirty Old One Man Band

 I'm currently obsessed with the musician Scott H. Biram. Last weekend I discovered that his music is great to listen to while de-cluttering your house while in a slightly agitated state. {As in, your husband has just put his foot down and demanded that you do something about your growing hoard of vintage dishes (and other odds and ends) that has slowly begun to encroach upon his man space.}

Anyway, I love how Biram's music transports my brain to "The South." {And not the Southern Living South.} Like I say, it's great music for cleaning. Also good for driving around in the country on a hot-as-hell summer day in Arkansas. Anyone up for a trip to Fordyce?

I've mostly been listening to the album Graveyard Shift. I'll probably get around to the other ones eventually. I like this song that he does, called Long Fingernail. {Please excuse the disgusting album art. Like just scroll down after you hit play so you don't have to look at it.}



I also like:
Plow You Under
Lost Case of Being Found
Pastures of Plenty {I think this one is an old song.}

~

{ i keep pinin' for love

but the devil's hand

keeps pokin' at my heart 

with the long fingernail }

Songs Heard from the Other Room

Songs heard from the other room can be especially magical.

Yesterday evening I was napping in the bedroom, and Josh was watching this crazy movie on Netflix in the his man-room. I fell asleep as the movie was beginning, and I emerged from my slumber to this song, which played over the closing credits. 

I listened to it play, then hurried into the room and said, "What's this movie? What was that song?" The movie was White Lightnin' and the song was Restless Sinner by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

White Lightnin' is a sensationalized biopic about Jesco White of the infamous White family of West Virginia. I found this description of the movie on a site called Gorepress, and it sounds pretty good. 

{Josh and I are familiar with the White family because we saw The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival a few years back. It featured male frontal nudity if I remember correctly.}

Don't Fade on Me

I’ve had a serious thing for Tom Petty ever since “Mary Jane's Last Dance” came out when I was like 9. Nevermind that I didn’t know what the words meant until I was like 20; I loved that song with all my heart.

I loved his greatest hits album, and I loved the album Wildflowers. One of my favorite songs from Wildflowers is a beautiful/simple/sad acoustic track called “Don’t Fade on Me.”

I think he probably wrote it about the death of a loved one, but in my own mind I relate it to myself and my depression. Especially those times when it almost seemed to have me licked. The lyrics fit that feeling perfectly; that feeling of losing touch with life. And the guitar solo (1:47) kind of breaks my heart. Art has a way of making you feel better, just by calling it exactly like it is.

No Youtube video to be had of this one, but you should totally look it up on Spotify. And I’ll attempt to share it on my FB page if you’d like to check it out there.

~

Hollyhocks - Beverly Buys 2007

Don’t Fade on Me

I remember you so clearly


The first one through the door


I return to find you drifting


Too far from the shore



I remember feeling this way


You can lose it without knowing


You wake up and you don't notice


Which way the wind is blowing



Don't fade


Don't fade on me



You were the one who made things different


You were the one who took me in


You were the one thing I could count on


Above all you were my friend



Don't fade


Don't fade on me



Well your clothes hang on a wire


And the sun is overhead


But today you are too weary


To even leave your bed



Was it love that took you under?


Or did you know too much?


Was it something you could picture?


But never could quite touch?



Don't fade


Don't fade on me

The Sadder But Wiser Girl

Who knew that Seth MacFarlane, creator of The Family Guy, had his own album? Not me. But I was slightly thrilled when Terry Gross played a song from it, and it was "The Sadder But Wiser Girl" from The Music Man. OMG. He sings it so good I almost cried.

What a freakin' cute song!!! BTW, The Music Man is like my favorite thing that ever happened. I participated in a local production of it when I was 8-ish(?), and I wore out my little cassette tape with all the songs on it. Then, the love affair continued when Matthew Broderick starred in a made-for-TV movie adaptation of it in 2003. Kristin Chenoweth was in it, it was awesome, I own the DVD.

There's Plenty of Fish in the Wrong Sea

So, I've been in love with Patrick Stump for quite some time. (It's OK, I'm pretty sure my husband is in love with Zooey Deschanel.) Anyway, I am so into this song from his new album "Soul Punk".

What I enjoy about this track is that it totally sounds like an old-school Prince song. LOVE IT!!! Unfortunately, I can't exactly recommend the album as a whole. All the other songs pretty much suck. :(

If My Soul Were a Song...

This might be it.

I'm kind of in love with the photograph too.

Children's Praise

I totally sullied my blog with my last entry didn't I? Oh well. (It was bound to happen sooner or later.) But today I'm here to make it up to you -- with some beautiful contemporary Christian music! Or does that just make it worse...

In any case, this really is a great song. It played at the end of the "Sister Wives" season finale while Robyn was giving birth, and it totally got lodged in my brain. The melody is unique and slightly haunting, and the vocals and instrumentation are simple and beautiful.