Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCII--Josh Ritter: Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

Another week, another artist favorite brought to you (and me) by my daughter...

The career of Josh Ritter could honestly be one big Fun Fact.  Ritter began his love affair with music in Idaho after hearing Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's version of "Girl from the North Country" (and it's one hell of a song to have as an inspiration).  He bought his first guitar at K-mart, originally went to college to study neuroscience (I'd be willing to bet the number of pop stars who started out as neuroscience majors can probably be counted on one finger), changed and created his major of "American History through Narrative Folk Music" (which seriously sounds like a fantastic major), self-released his first album at the age of 21 while still in college, continued working on his craft at open mic nights, became somewhat of a sensation in Ireland (a #2 album on the Irish charts--so many cool kids in Ireland), and eventually was able to ply his trade as a full time job.  Over the last twenty years, Ritter has released nine studio albums, five live albums (he's developed a solid reputation for his live performances), seven EP's, and twenty singles.  While Ritter has only had a modicum of commercial success, his list of fans include Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, and Cameron Crowe, and he's managed, as have numerous FNJ faves befiore him, to carve out a fine career doing what he loves.

Released on his EP Bringing in the Darlings (which I believe is the first here on FNJ to not have a Wikipedia entry) in 2012, "Love Is Making Its Way Back Home" was not released as a single, and thus once again we have no shout outs for Billboard magazine.  The EP, however, did chart, scaling as high as #122 (most assuredly with a bullet!), and reaching #5 on the Folk Chart, which probably explains why an old fart folkie like me found it so entertaining.

I have no doubt that Josh Ritter has written better songs ("Girl in the War" comes immediately to mind), but for someone like me whose musical education began with the pop, drop, and roll of Top 40 radio, it's not surprising in the least that I would become so easily attached to this song--the first time I heard it I knew it was going to be a song I loved for the rest of my life.  But the thing I didn't realize until I began listening to it in preparation for this post was what a subtle masterpiece it was.  Ritter takes a subject most of us are familiar with (the ups and downs of love in a long term relationship, and how, in the good ones, love does eventually make its way back), and manages to turn it into a song where you almost don't notice the message because the music is so goddamned catchy.  Ritter's vocals are smooth and soothing (he reminds me at times of one of my first musical heroes, James Taylor--and here my daughter and her husband stick their fingers down their throats and make gagging noises), and the melody is what I suppose every pop song made in the afterworld sounds like.   And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the "ooh-oohs" that make up the background vocals from virtually beginning to end, and how Ritter can sing "keep on, keep on" over and over again and it never turns stale.  Just a marvelous little ditty, and one that reminds me every time I hear it that devoting so much of my life to pop music has been worth every second of it.

Liner Notes:  "Dark pines the moonlit road/Winter time the crunch of snow/I wonder will your smile show/That love is making its way back home..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLIX--Little Feat: Willin'

I was one of about three people who watched the Showtime series, Roadies, which I watched as much for the music as I did for the show itself.  Each week I'd watch with a notebook in hand and write down any songs (of which there were usually several) from each episode that I wanted to check out later.  Near the end of its one and only season, one of the characters was asked what his favorite song of all time was, and he replied, "It's a little tune called 'Willin'' by Little Feat."  I wrote the song in my notebook and at show's end went to Spotify and gave it a listen.   About ten seconds in I said to myself, "I'm going to love this song for the rest of my life."  I may have been a little late to the party, but I've been making up for lost time over the past couple of years.

Formed in 1969 in L.A. by Lowell George and Bill Payne, Little Feat has had a career that's hard to recap in a paragraph or two.  Their first two albums were critically acclaimed and they developed a fine reputation as a live band, but had little commercial success and disbanded.  A couple of years later they reformed, continued to be critically acclaimed, had a bunch of dissension, and disbanded again.  Sadly, Lowell George passed away in 1979, from a heart attack at the all too young age of 34.  The band would reunite again, had some commercial success in the late eighties which brought their older work to a new audience, and have continued to record and tour, in several different incarnations, to this day.  All told, the band has released 16 studio albums, countless live records, and the respect they have garnered from their peers through the years is phenomenal--it'd be easier to find bands who haven't covered a Little Feat song than ones who have.

The band's name, by the way, comes from A) a comment about George's "little feet," and B) the spelling of "Feat" being a tribute to the Beatles.

"Willin'" has been released in a couple of different versions, but the one I'm familiar with is the version from their Sailin' Shoes LP in 1972.   The song was originally written by George when he was in Frank Zappa's back up band, The Mothers of Invention, and if George is to be believed, led to him being kicked out of the band due to its drug references (Zappa was notoriously anti-drugs).  While the song was not released as a single, it has become Little Feat's signature song, and has been covered by numerous artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, and the infamous cast of Roadies, among many others.

The song itself is a sparse ode to life on the road, specifically that of a trucker.  It features some nice acoustic guitar, some nice slide guitar, a nice piano interlude, and some stark, yet heartfelt vocals from Lowell George.  It's a song about the human spirit, in both its defiance and its frailty--believe me, the only thing I know about truck drivers is how to cuss them out when they get in my way while I'm weaving through traffic.  But when you listen to this song, it's hard not to admire the driver's steadfastness in the face of all his losses--and like him, to be willin' to keep movin'....

Fun Fact:  Despite their rather odd names, the cities noted in the chorus all actually exist.  Tucumcari (Pop. 14,000+) is in New Mexico, Tehachapi (Pop. 2600+) is in California, and Tonapah (Pop. 5300+) is in Nevada.  Amazingly enough, Tucson (Pop. Lots of Arizonans) is still located in Arizona.

Lyric Sheet:  "And I've been kicked by the wind/Robbed by the sleet/Had my head stoved in/But I'm still on my feet..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXV--Paul Westerberg: Dyslexic Heart

The only thing I remember about Singles, the movie from which this week's tune was introduced, is that at some point in the movie one of the main characters says "God bless you" to a woman he's pursuing after she sneezes and she falls in love with him straight thereafter.  Thanks to that scene, I spent years saying "God bless you" to any pretty woman within fifty feet of me...and nary a one of them ever fell head over heels for me....

Anyhoo...

Paul Westerberg is another in a long line of FNJ  heroes whom the whole world should know about but very few folks actually do.  Westerberg started his career as the lead singer/songwriter for alternative rock pioneers (and emaycee fave) and Minnesota natives The Replacements (more on them later this year), who despite drawing much acclaim from critics and a devoted if small following, never had much in the way of commercial success.  After 12 years and 7 albums the band members went their separate ways; Westerberg became a solo artist and other than the (small) bit of fame he received for this week's tune, pretty much continued riding the lack of commercial success train with the six LPs he released.  Still, he's been making music, recording and touring since 1979 and my guess is there's many a garage band in this world who'd trade places with Westerberg in a heartbeat.

Released in 1992 on, appropriately enough, the Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, "Dyslexic Heart" showcases Westerberg's two best attributes:  Writing catchy as all hell pop songs that don't sound like pop songs, and singing catchy as all hell pop songs without sounding like a catchy as all hell pop singer.  And unlike many alternative bands, Westerberg has never been overly introspective:  "Dyslexic Heart," like many of his tunes, wears its heart on its sleeve as Westerberg weaves his tale of a man trying to read not only his desired woman's intentions, but his own heart's intentions as well.  There's plenty to like from the lightly strummed acoustic guitar beginning to the driving electric guitar to the rat-a-tat drumming to the liberally spread around "na na nas" (which are always great for singing along) and finally to the start/stop cadence that Westerberg utilizes to great effect.  In the end, you have a pop gem from a movie that will live on long after the film has been forgotten (well, at least to music dorks like me...).

Liner notes:  "Do I date you? Do I hate you?/Do I got a dyslexic heart?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee