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Home of Michael Perry – Author, Humorist, Singer/Songwriter, Amateur Pig Farmer

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Posts Tagged ‘music’

Goin’ to Townes

Diffracted and distracted, dispurposed and dyspeptic, then Townes Van Zandt came on and the compass settled on point.

A Little Taste of the Book

My next book (no title yet, earliest it will be out is August 2012) is much more focused on a man named Tom than it is on me or my family. But anyone who read Truck knows I have a soft spot for pickup trucks and girls, so here’s an excerpt from the current draft in which I am accompanied by my then 3-year-old, who is resolutely sucking her thumb as we hammer down the backroads:

Jane and I are on our way to visit Tom Hartwig. He’s going to cut and bend some steel for me. Normally the truck would be rolling on blacktop, but crews are resurfacing and reshaping the curves along this stretch of county road, so they have chomped and removed the asphalt. Gravel rattles in the wheel wells, and a whorl of dust spins from beneath the back bumper to drift in our wake. It’s good to drive a dirt road, especially in a pickup truck. You get a whole different feel coming up through the wheel. There’s a little give, a little float to the curves. You feel like maybe life is more liveable when everything doesn’t have to be all double-yellow perfect. Given time and good spirits in the company of a child I believe you should converse with that child, but right now Jane’s thumb is well-planted and furthermore I can cultivate in her worse habits than the love of watching farm fields slide past an open truck window to the tune of yesteryear’s country music legends, so I punch the radio button and dial up Moose Country 106.7. I do my best to raise my children right, but some lessons are best imparted by ladies, specifically among them Patsy, Tammy, Loretta, and even – especially – Dolly.

Long Beds on International Stage – Photo Gallery

More photos from the show in Ashippun (daylight photos of the stage here). I like the last shot in the gallery, the one that shows the combine behind us.

The Long Beds and I will be playing in Reedsburg tomorrow.

 




New Kathleen Edwards Music

Like pretty much everyone else I discovered Kathleen Edwards around 2003 when she released Failer, which is one of those albums that never quite made it into the box out there in the pole barn because every few months I’d have a need to hear it again.

Later, after I became a father to two daughters, I found myself listening to Kathleen Edwards from a new perspective, and I’m happy to say that both of my girls regularly request her music when they visit me up here in the typing lair. My wife is also a fan.

So the whole family is real happy that Kathleen Edwards has some new music forthcoming. We’ve been given a sneak-peek/listen here. I like when tough meets beautiful, and “Change the Sheets” is exactly that. And for the story of “Wapusk,” go here.

Also, I am not talking out of school if I tell you we think it’s neat that much of the recording of both of these songs was done just one short rooster-crow from our little farm.

Where There’s Smokie…

Really getting into the music of Smokie recently (discovered them as a result of rediscovering this) especially like “Living Next Door to Alice” and “Lay Back in the Arms of Someone.” The cheesy 1970s Euro-television sets are over the top and I especially enjoy how Chris Norman treats lip-synching as an opportunity to clown. This version of “Alice” is particularly surreal.

Tangentially, Smokie led me back to Slade and Sweet. And then London Quireboys.

And yup, I’m aware of the alternate version of “Alice.”