Music & More

Last Place Yanks & other Baseball stuff

The New York Yankees were tied for last place with the Boston Red Sox after the games of May 21 had been played. The 2012 season is just past the 1/4 mark and the Yanks have won 21 and lost 21 after losing their last 3 games. Boston has won their last 3. These arch rivals are only 5 1/2 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles. Yes, you read that correctly. The O's, predicted by most to finish last, are in first led by ex-Yankee manager Buck Showalter. It's about as shocking as the Cleveland Indians leading the AL Central. Almost everyone predicted that the Detroit Tigers would win that division handily. Cleveland fans must not expect the Indians to keep playing well since the team is dead last among the 30 major league teams in home attendance, drawing only 15,872 fans per game.  Other early surprises include the Angels in last place in the AL West and the Phillies last in the NL East. It's early so all of this obviously could change drastically. Remember 1978 when the Yankees trailed the Red Sox by 14 games in late July and then tied the Sox to force a 1 game playoff which they won on the famous Bucky Dent HR.

This seems to be the year of the injury. I wonder how it compares with past years. The Yankees lost closer Mariano Rivera for the rest of the year with a torn ACL. Back-up closer David Robertson has been out with a left oblique strain, Brett Gardner has spent most of this year on the D/L with a sore elbow and Michael Pineda, the key man the Yanks received for catcher/DH Jesus Montero, is out for the year with a torn labrum. I don't mention this as an excuse for the Yankees poor performance. Many teams have been hit hard. The Red Sox have lost Jacoby Ellsbury for the season and Carl Crawford and Dice K have yet to play. Detroit's Victor Martinez is out for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee and Al Alburquerque (one of my favorite names in baseball along with Jarrod Saltalammachia) is recovering from left elbow surgery. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley have been out all year for the Phillies. Evan Longoria was lost to the Rays for 6 - 8 weeks with a torn hamstring.  There are many more injured players. Just google "mlb 2012 injured players" and you'll find plenty of websites listing these players and their status.

While not a horseracing fan, this past Saturday I watched the Preakness, the 2nd leg of the horseracing triple crown, flanked by the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Since "I'll Have Another" has now won the first two legs, it has a chance to become the first triple crown winner since Secretariat in 1978.

After the race, it occured to me that baseball hasn't had a triple crown winner (leading the AL or NL in HR's, RBI's and Batting Average) since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski won the AL triple crown. That's 45 years! Since Nap Lajoie won the first triple crown of the 20th century, the largest gap between winners had been 13 years when Rogers Hornsby won in 1922 following Ty Cobb's 1909 win. Hornsby and Ted Williams are the only two-time winners. 1933 was the only year in which there was a winner in both leagues, Jimmie Foxx in the AL and Chuck Klein in the NL. Gehrig in '34 and Mantle in '56 have been the only Yanks to win. In the early going this year, it appears that Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers has a legitimate shot of breaking the triple crown drought in the AL. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers appeared to have a great chance until sidelined by a hamstring injury. If he can get and stay healthy, Kemp still may have a shot at the NL crown.

The most exciting rookie this year has to be 6'3" Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals. Called up from triple A on April 28, the 19 year old Harper has been known to most serious baseball fans for about 3 years. He appears to have the potential to become a 5 tool player. While his stats are not spectacular by any means, he has shown speed as well as power and a surprising plate discipline for a young hitter as evidenced by his 10 walks in 94 plate appearances. I loved it when after getting hit with a pitch by Cole Hamels, he went to 3rd on a hit and then stole home on the Philly lefty.

Other early season highlights from the great sport of baseball:

Josh Hamilton's 4 HR's vs Baltimore on May 8th made him only the 14th player to hit 4 HR's in a single game since 1900.

We've seen no-hitters by Jered Weaver of the Angels on May 2 vs the Twins  and Phillip Humber of the White Sox on April 21 vs the Mariners.

Baltimore first baseman/DH Chris Davis hurled 2 scoreless innings in relief to win a 17 inning game against the Red Sox. The losing pitcher was Boston outfielder Darnell McDonald. The last AL position player to win a game as a pitcher was Rocky Colavito in 1968 - as a Yankee.

Ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera is batting .360 for the San Francisco Giants.

 

 

 

 

English Country

It was a little over a year ago that I first heard of English country singer David Bradley. A resident of Nashville now, David hails from the town of Sunderland, in Northern England. According to his website, he finished his latest album, "Movin' On", in 2010 under the direction of singer/songwriter/director Brady Seals.

It was a little over a week ago at the Bluebird Cafe that I saw David perform for the first time. He hosted the 6 pm show which was originally billed as David Bradley & friends and then changed on the day before the show to "In the row with David Bradley, James Otto, Lucas Hoge and Johnny Gates". I guess sometimes they're not sure who will be appearing when the show is originally listed on the Bluebird website. Most Bluebird shows are "In the Round" with the artists forming a circle in the middle of the room. "In the Row" shows are performed on the small Bluebird stage on the right as you enter. As the name implies, the artists line up in a row.

I really enjoyed hearing David sing his moving ballad, "Hard Time Movin' On", written by Rivers Rutherford and Gordie Sampson (see my post of March 9, 2011) and the fun "If You Can't Make Money (Make Love)" from writers Brad Paisley, Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. David said that "Hard Time Movin' On" was a #1 hit in Europe although to my knowledge it didn't chart here. The recorded version features Rodney Crowell on harmony. A favorite of mine that he didn't sing, "Someday We'll Get It Right", features Emily West and was written by David and John Wayne Wiggins.

It was the last song of the evening that got to me. From the reactions of the rest of the audience I can safely say that I was not alone. The song, "Get a Hero Home", was written by Cory "The Black Dress Song" Batten and Phillip Pence. In the first verse, a soldier just home from Iraq is trying to hitch a ride from Virginia to Tucson, Arizona (Cory's from Tucson.) when a semi pulls up and the driver offers him a ride. The driver says he hears it's  hot in the Tucson desert and the soldier says yes, "but nowhere near that fiery hell back in Iraq". He can't wait to hold his wife and see his year old son who's never met his dad.

The soldier falls asleep to the humming of the engine and the driver gets on his cb to begin the chorus:

"Breaker, Breaker 1-9, who's got your ears on,

picked up a soldier in Virginia, he's trying to reach Tucson,

I can get him as far as Tupelo,

Then I could use a little help, to get a hero home"

After they arrive in Tupelo, the driver nudges him awake and tells him that his friend will get him to San Antonio. The middle of the chorus changes to reflect the progress of his ride:

"picked up a soldier in Mississippi trying to reach Tucson

I can get him as far as San Anton' "

In the bridge, we hear that when they get to San Antonio they find twenty 18 wheelers lined up, all offering to take that soldier home to Tucson. The last singing of the chorus tells of getting the hero safely home. There is no jingoistic posturing or political statement of any kind.

According to Bradley's website, the song was released on December 22, 2011. I don't know if it's ever gotten any radio play here in the States. I check the American Country Top 40 Countdown with Kix Brooks on-line every week mainly to see what's new so I do know that it never made the Kix countdown. You can see David's performance of the Hero song at Fort Knox on You-Tube and find the complete lyrics at: www.americansongspace.com/songprofile/get-a-hero-home-phillip-pence.

Some of the other high points of the show for me included James Otto singing  his #1 hit from 2007, "Just Got Started Lovin' You". James also sang the current Zac Brown Band hit "No Hurry" and Jamey Johnson's "In Color". He was a co-writer on all three songs. I don't remember the names of the other songs he sang. Each artist sang five. Although his songs were not familiar, I was very impressed with Lucas Hoge's vocals. Checking the i-Tunes store I see that his most popular song appears to be "Give a Damn". I couldn't find anything for Johnny Gates.

Before the show began, cards were placed on each table for Renegade music nashville.com. David Bradley is on Renegade Wednesdays and Fridays at 1 pm central time.

 

BP's Double Heart

My guess is that most fans of the Band Perry - lead singer Kimberly and brothers Reid and Neil - are at least 40 or 50 years younger than I am. Medicare and the BP just don't seem like a logical match. Much to my surprise however, I found myself liking their self-titled platinum debut album released in October of 2010. Maybe it's really not that strange that their music appeals to me since I still like a lot of the music I loved when I was in my teens and twenties, doo wop, rock, folk, etc. I still play that old music. I have no great desire to go see BP perform in concert. I believe they're touring with Brad Paisley this summer so that means playing arenas and other large venues. I'm a small venue guy and never was a fan in the sense that I wanted to meet an artist, get their autograph or have my picture taken with them.

I'm not wild about every song, but I certainly like a good part of the BP album. The singles were in order of release, "Hip to My Heart", "If I Die Young", "You Lie", "All Your Life" and the latest and most likely the last single, "Postcards From Paris". I think that "You Lie" was the weakest and "All Your Life" was just ok. I'm not going to comment any further on the singles. There are plenty of reviews for them on-line. I'll just mention that while the only solo writing effort is Kimberly Perry's "If I Die Young", the Band Perry family is involved in the writing of 8 of the other 10 tracks.

A song that was not chosen for single release has become one of my favorite tracks on this BP album. "Double Heart" is an uptempo rocker that moves along at an almost frantic pace. (Think Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running" re the pace.) I have to listen to this song sitting down. The beat is so infectious that if I stood I'd be tempted to dance, an activity that could have devastating effects on my back. The BP is a country music act. Is the song country? Don't know and don't care. There is some steel guitar and fiddle. It's probably pop-country.

"Double Heart" was written by Brett Beavers and the BP trio. The girl's not ready for a permanent relationship but the first two guys she meets apparently are to the extent that they get tattoos of double hearts with their names and hers. The beginnings of the first two verses describe the guys. He's a "cold drink of water with butterscotch hair" in the first (i've heard guys described as a "tall drink of water" - maybe she was trying to avoid using a cliche) and a "tough brawny buster" who tried to rope her "right out of the shoot" in the second. They both swore they loved her. The first verse ends with the guy rolling up his sleeve and the girl seeing her name next to his. She varies the end of the second verse by saying "I thought here we go again" after he rolled up his sleeve.

I'm not into tattoos. I'm glad my kids don't have them. It's not a moral judgment. Just don't like them - the permanence and, from what I've heard, the pain, even though the pain is temporary unless you decide to have the tattoo removed. The pre-chorus begins by talking of "a new tattoo stinging like a hornet" and later "burning like a brand". When it comes to my skin, stinging and branding are not what I'm after. (No earrings or other forms of body piercing either.) The first two times Kimberly sings the pre-chorus, the last line concludes "first comes the ink, then comes the ring". The last singing of the pre-chorus ends "so don't you put ink 'til I take the ring". Pretty cool lyrics. She's saving the last guy from the pain and suffering of a tattoo removal. The main chorus begins "bye bye baby ..." The memories could have been sweet but he moved too fast. "You should have slowed down mister, moving like a twister's just a little fast for me". If he ever misses her, she's right there on his arm. She'll leave him "skid marks and a double heart".

Other favorite non-singles from this album include "Independence", "Lasso", "Quittin' You" and "Miss You Being Gone". The album lyrics in general have been described by some reviewers as quirky. But I like quirky.

 

Oldest Winning Pitcher

Last night, Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher ever to win a major league game. He pitched 7 strong innings, allowing only 2 unearned runs and 6 hits. With two on and 1 out in the top of the 7th, Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitski let a perfect double play ball go right through his legs leading to the 2 Padres runs. The Rockies had already turned 3 DP's behind Jamie. When the Rockies held on for a 5 - 3 win, Moyer was a winner at the age of 49 years and 150 days surpassing Jack Quinn who won at 49 years and 70 days. Sharing the moment at Coors Field with Jamie were his wife Karen and it looked like 5 or 6 of their 8 kids. I don't believe that his father-in-law Digger Phelps attended.

According to www.baseball-reference.com, Jack Quinn was actually born Joannes Pajkos, July 1, 1883 in Stefurov, Austria-Hungary. He became John Picus Quinn and in a career lasting over 20 years won 247 games and lost 218. His last win was in 1932 as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers however he spent more time with the Yankees, Red Sox and Philadelphia A's. After 2 years with the Dodgers, he finished his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1933. His only decision that year was a loss.

Jamie Moyer was born on November 18, 1962 in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. He broke into the majors in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs. Along the way, he also played for Texas, St. Louis, Baltimore, Boston, 10 seasons with Seattle, 5 with Philly and, after sitting out last year following Tommy John surgery, the Rockies. Jamie's win tied him with the great Orioles' Hall of Famer Jim Palmer with 268 wins. This puts him in 35th place on the all-time wins list, two behind Mike Mussina and Burleigh Grimes, 5 behind Red Ruffing and 15 behind Jim Kaat. Among left-handed pitchers, only 8 have more wins. Moyer is a fast worker but without a major league fast ball. As I watched the game, I noticed that the highest reading on the radar gun for Jamie was 79. I love watching this crafty old lefthander work.

You might ask if there are any current major leaguers who could eclipse Jamie's record in the near future. It's not likely.

Per ESPN.com, here are the current active major leaguers 40+ or at least in their 40th year:

Mariano Rivera - Yankees - 42

LaTroy Hawkins & Jason Isringhausen - Angels - 39

Darren Oliver - Bluejays - 39

Jose Contreras - Phillies - 40

Miguel Batista - Mets 41

All of the above are currently relief pitchers. As of this date, there are no starters on active major league rosters who are 39 or older, other than Moyer. It is expected, however, that Andy Pettite of the Yankees will be activated in May and he turns 40 on June 15th. Andy sat out last year. He is the type of pitcher who conceivably could challenge the record if he had the desire since he doesn't rely on overpowering stuff. Since one of his reasons for retiring after the 2010 season was to spend more time with his family, it's doubtful that he would even think about staying around long enough to surpass Moyer's record.

See these past posts:

8/17/08 - Old Pitchers (last paragraph is about Moyer)

6/23/10 - Old Man Moyer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Songs

"How's the World Treating You"? Are you one of those people predicting  "The End of the World"? Or do you just want to "Make the World Go Away"? Are you on "Top of the World"? Back "Here in the Real World", I'm just an old retired guy looking for songs that include the word "World" in the title. I sometimes go through the songs in my MacBook's i-Tunes library, looking for ideas for a playlist. With all the information available on the internet, "It's Such a Small World". 

Today I came up with a list of country "World" songs. Some are singles, some album tracks, some old, some new. Some are so well known that no comment is needed for readers who are country music fans. I'm sure I've missed some good songs so I'm open to suggestions to upgrade this list. So "Hello World", here are the songs with the names of the songwriters in parenthesis and the album it first appeared in:

Alan Jackson - "Here in the Real World" (Mark Irwin & AJ), from the 1990 album of the same name.

Alison Krauss & James Taylor - "How's the World Treating You" (Chet Atkins & Boudleaux Bryant), from the 2000 tribute album, "Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers".

Brad Paisley - "The World" (Kelley Lovelace, Lee Thomas Miller & BP), from "Time Well Wasted".

Dixie Chicks - "Top of the World" (Patty Griffin), from the album "Home".

Brooks & Dunn - "Rock My World (Little Country Girl)" (Bill La Bounty & Steve O'Brien), from their 1993 album, "Hard Workin' Man".

Allison Paige - "The End of the World" (Sylvia Dee - lyrics & Arthur Kent - music), first recorded by Skeeter Davis in 1962 and by many others since.

Rodney Crowell & Rosanne Cash - "It's Such a Small World" (Rodney Crowell), from Rodney's "Diamonds & Dirt" album.

Ronnie Milsap - "Let's Take the Long Way Around the World" (A. Jordan & N. Martin), from "The Essential Ronnie Milsap", a 40 song collection released in 2006 on BMG Music.

Lady Antebellum - "Hello World" (Tom Douglas, Tony Lane & David Lee), from "Need You Now".

Lady Antebellum - "Heart of the World" (Tom Douglas & Scooter Carusoe), from "Own the Night".

Blaine Larsen - "Off to Join the World (the Circus Song)" (Mark D. Sanders & Shawn Camp), from his 2004 debut album of the same name.

Wynonna - "Change the World" (Gordon Kennedy, Tommy Sims & Wayne Kirkpatrick), an album track from her 1996 album "Revelations".

Wynonna - "What the World Needs" (Brett James & Holly Lamar), a single from her 2003 album "What the World Needs Now Is Love".

Mary Chapin Carpenter - "A Place in the World" (MCC), from her album of the same title.

Eagles - "It's Your World Now" (Glenn Frey & Jack Tempchin), the last track on disc 2 of their "Long Road Out of Eden" album.

Jeff Carson with Lisa Brokop - "God Save the World" (Pat Bunch & Doug Johnson)

The Jeffersons (who are LIsa Brokop & Paul Jefferson, not George and Louise) - "What a World" (Fred Wilhelm & Lisa Brokop), from their debut cd as a duo.

Mark McGuinn - "If the World Was Mine" (Mark McGuinn & Shane Decker), from his self-titled debut album in 2001.

Melinda Schneider - "Big World, Small World" (Jay Knowles & Melinda Schneider), from her album "Melinda Schneider, Hits and Rarities"

Rissi Palmer - "I'm Not of This World" (Sarah Majors, Dan Shea & Rissi Palmer), from her 2007 self-titled debut album.

Gloriana - "The World Is Ours Tonight" (Jess Cates, Lindy Robbins & Matt Serletic), from their debut album "Gloriana".

Tricia Walker - "Eighth Wonder of the World" (Bobby King & Ellen Britton), from her 2007 album "Velvet".

A few years ago I bought the "Ultimate Eddy Arnold" cd, a 20 song compilation released in 2003 from BMG Music. The cd included the following three "World" songs, all from the mid 1960's and all made it to #1 on the country charts:

"What's He Doing in My World" (Carl Belew, Billy Joe Moore & Eddie Bush)

"Make the World Go Away" (Hank Cochran), first recording was by Ray Price in '63.

"Turn the World Around" (Ben Peters)

In addition to these three, I found four other "World" songs on Wikipedia's Eddy Arnold discography. Guess he was the king of the world song singers?

What are your favorite country "World" songs?

If you like playlists with a theme, you may want to check out some of these past posts here on Music & More:

Country Covers of pop songs - 8/24/08

Sappy Songs - 9/29/08

True Duets - 10/20/08

Christmas Songs - 12/11/08

Fun Country Songs - 3/8/09

Best Baseball Songs - 4/5/09

Country Story Songs - 9/26/09

Country Dance Songs - 5/1/10

A Few Autumn/Fall Songs 10/1/10

Gone Country Songs - 11/2/10

Winter Songs - 1/27/11

Cities & States in Country Songs - 3/8/11

Cowboy Songs - 4/2/11

Country Rain Songs - 6/21/11

Pop Rain Songs - 7/12/11

Favorite Songs about Working - 9/1/11

Favorite Country Drinking Songs - 10/7/11



liar, liar ...

With the presidential election getting closer, emails of a political nature keep a coming. Most of these come from hopefully well meaning friends. Often the message concludes with a dire warning like "our country's future is at stake" and requests that I forward the email to all my other internet friends. The problem with many of these emails is that they are lies, plain and simple, lies! - not just a difference of opinion. I don't want to spread these lies and I feel that if I just delete the message, I'm in a way endorsing the sender's lies. What to do? First a little background.

If you believe that politicians never deliberately lie, stop reading right now. You're hopeless. While it is sometimes by omission, taking statements out of context, etc., almost all politicians stretch the truth. Maybe that's one of the reasons that the approval rating of Congress, aka the millionaire's club, has been hovering around 10% for quite some time. Ethics is not their strong suit. I liked the woman in the Occupy movement who had a sign that read something like "I'm carrying this sign because I can't afford to buy a congressman".

This situation is not new:

I'm sure that many readers are familiar with this famous quote from Mark Twain: "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress".

Ambrose Bierce in his "Devil's Dictionary" defined politics as "n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." (The Devil's Dictionary can be found on-line.)

More recently, country singer Brad Paisley's song "I'll Take You Back" is about a guy who in effect is saying that he'll get back together with his ex-wife or lover when hell freezes over. In one verse he sings that he'll take her back "when politicians everywhere stop telling lies, and only state the facts".

One of my ways to determine the veracity of these political emails is to check certain websites devoted to uncovering false statements. I haven't read of any complaints about them. They seem to be bi-partisan. If they favored one party over another, they would lose all credibility.

PolitiFact.com is said to be a project of the Tampa Bay Times to help you find the truth in Washington and the Obama presidency. They aren't picking on President Obama; they also review comments from the Republicans hoping to unseat him. Statements are characterized as true, mostly true, half true, false, mostly false and whoppers are characterized as "pants on fire" as in "liar, liar, pants on fire".

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker is another source. The Fact Checker by Glenn Kessler describes itself as "the Truth Behind the Rhetoric". It awards up to 4 Pinocchio's depending on the extent of the lie.

Snopes is broader based, not specifically focussing on politics. Snopes.com describes itself as the definitive internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.

When I receive a false email, I reply to the sender with a copy of the data I found on the above websites.

Sometimes a slick sender will claim that the information being forwarded has been verified by Snopes. Don't assume this to be true. Check out the citation yourself. I have gotten emails where the Snopes article referenced did not support the lie they were spreading.

 

 

A Thousand Wild Horses

I've probably heard Gary Burr sing "A Thousand Wild Horses" about a half dozen times at the Bluebird Cafe and every time wished that I had the song in my i-Tunes library. Before singing it at his show the night before last, he mentioned that it's going to be on the Blue Sky Riders cd. For those who don't know, Blue Sky Riders is a group consisting of Gary, Georgia Middleman and Kenny Loggins. They did some touring last year and will be on the road again soon. Gary said that he and Georgia were flying out to L.A. the day after the show to do some more work on the debut Blue Sky Riders album. Hopefully, the cd will be released shortly. My guess is that "A Thousand Wild Horses" will not be the group's debut single, if it ever is a single. Kenny Loggins is obviously the best known member of the group so I think the first single will feature KL.

The song was written by Gary with Sam & Annie Tate, a husband and wife songwriting team. It's about a man starting a new relationship and worrying about the wild horses or demons of his past. He knows his old issues aren't going away. He'll have to deal with them in this new relationship and he's not optimistic about being successful. "One drink too many, one kiss too deep, and I feel that old shake in the ground, that's a thousand wild horses, thundering behind me, hell bent on running me down." After the bridge, he warns his prospective lover "so if you're thinking you're the one who can save me, baby this ain't no merry-go-round, it's a thousand wild horses ..."

"A Thousand Wild Horses" can be heard on You-Tube. There's a May 4, 2011 version by the Blue Sky Riders from the Rutledge, one of Nashville's live music venues. Gary sings lead. There's another from a March 18, 2011 show at the Bluebird Cafe with Gary singing solo. (My wife and I were at that Bluebird show which featured Gary and Don Schlitz.) The latter You-Tube is better because of the Bluebird's SHHH! policy so there's less talking in the background.

Tuesday night's show was on the small Bluebird stage rather than their usual "in the round" format. Gary was backed by Gary Hart on piano and Duncan Mullins on base with backing vocals - and two solos - provided by Gary's fiancee and fellow Blue Sky Rider, Georgia Middleman. I got to hear quite a few of my favorite Burr songs, like "Time Machine", "What Mattered Most", "One Night a Day", "She Can't Be Really Gone", etc. Great night! 

Related past posts:

8/9/10 Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before ...

2/9/11 Country Songwriting Team Tate

4/19/11 Burr-Schlitz

7/20/11 Blue Sky Riders, Headliner Opening for Himself?

 

 

Music Halls of Fame

The Country Music Hall of Fame just inducted Garth Brooks, Connie Smith and Hargus "Pig" Robbins. I would certainly not dispute the merits of these artists. Obviously, Garth is the best known of the trio. I have most of his music and especially liked his first three albums. A full list of the CMHF members can be found on their website, countrymusichalloffame.org. The list of inductees goes back to 1961 when Hank Williams, Fred Rose and Jimmie Rodgers became the Hall's first members. Click on their name or "More info" and you get a bio of the inductee. Some of my favorite members include - in most recent year of induction order - the Statler Brothers ('08), Alabama ('05), Glen Campbell ('05), the Everly Brothers ('01), Elvis Presley ('98), Brenda Lee ('97), and Patsy Cline ('73).

Although I've been a resident of Nashville for over 5 years, I have yet to go through the exhibits. I've only been in the lobby and giftshop. It's not the cost of admission that prevents me from going. The regular price of admission for adults is $20 and as a senior it would only cost me $18. I just have no compelling desire to go. I can read the bios on-line. The first time I go will probably be when some relative or friend visits and wants to go and I'll take them. It's not like I have anything against country music - far from it. I also have no desire to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, even though I grew up on rock music. I went to an Indians baseball game in Cleveland while on a business trip in 1999 but didn't have time to visit the R'n'R Hall.

Actually, I am much more familiar with the artists in the rock than the country hall, even though I've hardly listened to any rock music from the 80's on. The rock hall only goes back to 1986. In the first year, inductees included 16 acts. I guess they had a lot of catching up to do. Three of the these acts, the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley and, most surprising to me, Jimmie Rodgers, are in the country as well as the rock hall. It's said of Rodgers on the rock hall website, rockhall.com, that "his combination of blues and hillbilly styles made him a true forebear of rock and roll, and he was also part of the first group of musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". His induction category is called "Early Influence". I tend to think of Elvis and the Everly's more as rock than country. Their big hits were as rock artists. Some of the other '86 rock inductees included Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, James Brown, Fats Domino and DJ Alan Freed, the last in a non-performer category. 

I would probably be more interested in the Country Music Hall of Fame if they inducted country artists more to my liking. I would like to see John Denver, Ronnie Milsap, Anne Murray, Gene Watson, Larry Gatlin and Crystal Gayle be so honored by the CMHF. Frankly, if Elvis and the Everly's are members, I see no reason why Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles shouldn't be included. Some of my more recent country favorites, Suzy Bogguss and Hal Ketchum, will share John Denver's fate and never get in. George Strait will put out a doo-wop album before JD gets selected.

So, which is my favorite hall of fame?

 

Without a doubt, it's the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York which I first visited in 1966 and returned to on three other occasions.

Carusoe

Since there's an "e" on the end in the title of this post, you can safely assume that it has nothing to do with the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. I'm talking here about Scooter Carusoe, a country music songwriter, born in North Carolina who lived in Knoxville before moving to Nashville. He doesn't have a website or a myspace or even a wikipedia article about him. He should. I don't know how old he is or how long he's been writing songs although the oldest song I discovered was from 2005.

The name he chose to be known by - I'll explain later - makes me think of the first novel I ever read, Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", published in 1719. The nickname, Scooter, makes me think of the Hall of Fame Yankee shortstop, Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto. I've always been a Yankee fan and I lived in New York for just over 60 years. Admittedly, my memories of Rizzuto were much more of his career as the "Holy Cow" announcer of Yankee games than as a player. But I digress as I'm prone to do. Wonder what made this songwriter choose Scooter Carusoe?

What got me thinking of Mr. Carusoe was a review of a song he co-wrote which became the title track and second single from David Nail's sophomore album, "The Sound of a Million Dreams". The country music blog Country Universe gave the song an "A" in their review on February 8, 2012. Writer Ben Foster called it a "tribute and testament to the power of a well-crafted, deeply resonant song".  CU does not often hand out "A's" and they are not afraid to hand out "D's' or even an "F" now and then. Although I don't always agree with them, I never get the impression that they're just shilling for the country music industry.

Written with Phil Vassar, "The Sound of a Million Dreams" features a great chorus:

"So I labor for hours 'cause I know the power

of a song when a song hits you right

pouring my soul into stories of life

hoping someone'll hear one tonight

maybe my voice will cut through the noise

and stir up an old memory

and out of these piano keys

comes the sound, the sound of a million dreams"

Makes me want to write a song. Unfortunately, I have no musical talent. When David sings "out of these piano keys" near the end of the chorus, co-writer Phil Vassar comes to mind. I've seen him in concert twice and always think of him as country music's piano man.The song's two 8 line verses are also very strong. The first calls up a musical memory. The second recalls a youthful mistake and a mother who said "I love you not, I told you so".

I recently purchased the new Nail album which includes another Scooter songwriter related song, this one written with Billy Montana. "Songs for Sale" takes a less inspirational approach than "The Sound of a Million Dreams". Songwriting is just his job, just as "some are called to preach the gospel, string fence in Colorado" ... "swing a hammer at a nail, haul bricks or carry mail", ... "I got songs for sale". Carusoe also wrote a third track on the Nail cd, "Catch You While I Can" with Jedd Hughes, a seize the moment song.

Scooter co-wrote 5 songs on David Nail's debut album, "I'm About to Come Alive": "Mississippi", "Again", "Clouds", "Strangers On a Train" and "Turning Home". Although the last was the only single, my favorites are:

"Mississippi" - written with Dan Colehour & Chuck Leavell. In the opening verse, I like how snow in New York is compared to cotton in Mississippi, a "southern man's field of white".

"Again", a song written with David Nail, seems like it might be autobiographical for David. He talks about giving up chasing his father's baseball dream. "I turned in that uniform before I ever played a game". His girl left town to pursue her dream. He wonders if he or she could ever again feel like they did as kids growing up in a small town.

"Strangers on a Train" was written with Aimee Mayo. It's about seeing someone you're attracted to when you already have someone, wondering how it would be but knowing that nothing will come of it. The second verse ends "but don't feel guilty, it don't mean much, the truth is the two of us ain't never gonna touch". There's a You-Tube video of Scooter singing the song with David Nail.

I first discovered Carusoe when I bought the third Sugarland album, "Love On the Inside", released in 2008. It's arguably their best effort and was unfortunately followed by the awful "Incredible Machine" cd. Songs by Carusoe included "We Run", "Fall Into Me" and "Wishing", all written with Nettles and Bush. None were singles but all are really good songs with "We Run" marred only by all the nanana's at the end.

Whenever I buy a new album, one of the first things I do is check the liner notes to see who wrote the songs. I've been doing this for close to 20 years. Because I like the songs Carusoe wrote for David Nail and Sugarland, I decided to try to find out what other songs he has written. Since it's the most user friendly of the Performing Rights Organizations websites, I tried ASCAP first, rather than BMI or SESAC. (see my post on Searching the PRO's of 4/14/10.) I searched by songwriter, typing in Scooter Carusoe. When his name came up as Carusoe, Scooter, I clicked on it and found 42 songs written by Travis Fredrick Hill. Hmm. Could that be his real name? The list included the Carusoe songs mentioned above.

I don't recall any other songwriters at this moment who use a pen name but so what? The guy can write so who cares. Besides Nail and Sugarland, he's written for:

Kenny Chesney - his #1 hit from 2005, "Anything But Mine", a solo writing effort, and another #1 in '08, "Better As a Memory", written with Lady Goodman.

Lady Antebellum - "The Heart of the World" written with Tom Douglas, from their "Own the Night" cd.

Eli Young Band - co-wrote the title track to their "Jet Black and Jealous" cd and one of the singles from that album, "Guinevere".

Wade Bowen -  "Before These Walls Were Blue", written with Wade Bowen. It doesn't appear to be available on i-Tunes but you can see Wade sing it on You-Tube.

You can check out other Carusoe songs on ASCAP and also find the names of co-writers where I didn't provide them. Looks like Scooter is well on his way to becoming one of the great country songwriters.

 

 

Murder On Music Row

Stuart Dill's "Murder On Music Row" is described on the cover as a music industry thriller. Published just last year, Mr. Dill's first novel comes in at 341 pages. He's been an artist manager for over 25 years in Nashville's country music scene, helping to guide the careers of Minnie Pearl, Dwight Yoakum, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jo Dee Messina and Laura Bell Bundy among others. On the back cover you can read testimonials to his first effort as an author from Rodney Crowell, Marshall Chapman and Jo Dee. There are plenty of reviews on-line. I'm merely a recommender, not a reviewer.

If you enjoy the murder mystery/thriller genre, this book is for you even if you don't give a damn about country music. If you choose to read a review rather than just go with my recommendation (can't blame you if you do), I recommend (there I go recommending again) reading Tennessean senior music writer Peter Cooper's interview/review of October 24, 2011. In addition to writing for The Tennessean, Cooper is also a singer/songwriter. He describes the superstar recording artist in Mr. Dill's book, Ripley Graham, as egomaniacal and says that the job of artist manager involves more than a modicum of psychology. Dill says that  "we manage artists by getting to know their fears so we can get them to a safe place". The copy of the book I bought at the Cool Spring's Barnes & Noble had been signed by Mr. Dill with "Find a 'safe place' and enjoy!" I did. Hope you do too.