What did you listen to today?

1966 - 2nd album

Paste Magazine Top 50 Southern Rock Albums

21. Alejandro Escovedo: Gravity (1992) - The son of Mexican immigrants, Alejandro Escovedo grew up as a surfer and punk-rocker in California, but it wasn’t until he moved to Texas that he was able to put those two halves of his identity together, first with the overlooked roots-rock band The True Believers and then with a solo career that began with this stunning album. With his Mexican background reflected in the violins and lilting melodies of his parents’ homeland and his punk-bohemian side echoed in the spiky electric guitar riffs of the West Coast demimonde, the two sides were bridged by the singer’s spare but evocative lyrics, which distilled conversations on both sides of the border to their aphoristic essence. 

semi-random album listen...  I had just finished reading a newspaper article about the Edmund Fitzgerald 

Slept in the boat last night. Put this version on for the first time as I cruised down at dusk and watched the moon come out from behind the front moving east. It’s is excellent:

Paste Magazine Top 50 Southern Rock albums 

20. The Avett Brothers: Emotionalism (2007) - In the late ’60s, The Band’s earnest roots rock helped topple nonsensical hippie credos like “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Similarly, The Avett Brothers did their best to combat modern-day hipster detachment and pseudo-coolness with Emotionalism’s simple, poetic story-songs and bittersweet, introspective laments. The album—down to the title itself—was a celebration of unselfconscious passion and a huge step forward musically: The relative sonic polish worked magically in contrast to the Avetts’ jagged edge; they went beyond their core of acoustic guitar, banjo and upright bass (a change foreshadowed by Four Thieves Gone’s “Colorshow”), adding piano, B3, drums, electric guitar and mandolin; the vocals felt more carefully arranged, relying less on energetic screams and shouts and giving the melodies room to breathe; and the influences peeking through were more varied than ever, the music sporadically reminiscent of everything from Help!-era Beatles to Chopin nocturnes. This was the album where the Avetts, long deemed “promising” by critics, began unflinchingly—unguardedly—delivering on that promise.

Grateful Dead of the Day - 9/28/1975 - SF, CA

Paste Magazine Southern Rock Top 50 Albums

19. Gregg Allman: Laid Back (1973) - You’ll recognize a lot of song titles when you look at the back cover of Gregg Allman’s first solo album. There are rerecorded versions of Allman classics, including a swampy, haunted version of “Midnight Rider,” and an overwrought take on the underrated gem “Please Call Home.” There’s a funereal take on the Carter Family’s adaptation of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” There’s a cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” (made famous by Nico) that’s all steel guitar glissando, Allman’s mournful vocals and the warm glow of an electric piano. And then there’s “Queen of Hearts,” which is not the Hank DeVito song that Juice Newton made famous, nor the traditional ballad that Joan Baez popularized, but an epic Allman original that’s both mournful and triumphant at the same time. That basically summarizes the album—don’t expect the guitar-heavy jams of the Allman Brothers, but a sad, contemplative record that sounds like the morning after the parties heard on Eat a Peach and At Fillmore East.

1989 - 16th studio album

(yesterday)

Not so random album listen...it come on after the Elvis Sun Sessions one

(yesterday)

Another random album of the day

Nederland’s finest, and they were great at Floydfest.