A welcomed Soul revival has been underway for some time now, spearheaded by Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley and the Daptone label.  Praise be.  Check out some old school soul done phenomenally well by Lee Field & The Expressions on the song Faithful Man.  The band can be found on Truth and Soul Records.  Shakes you to the core, don’t it?

Jim White has been writing and performing his eccentric Southern-gothic and gospel songs for 15 years, and he never fails to entertain.  Before becoming a songwriter White tried his hand at being a professional surfer, followed by a stint in Milan as a fashion model, before returning to music full-time and catching on with David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.  White’s songwriting has long exhibited unique lyrical tales and twists, all of which are given perfect voice with his singular vocal stylings.  His song titles alone are captivating:  God Was Drunk When He Made Me, Phone Booth in Heaven, Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi, Plywood Superman, and If Jesus Drove a Motorhome.  You can check out the latter below at a recent performance for Portland’s Kink Radio.  We love this (Tom) Waitsian variegated vantage the performance with its vocal-skewing device, bass ukelele (or whatever that is), tasteful electric guitar and melodica.  Afterwards check out the touching Sunday Refrain, a fitting homage to Kimya Dawson and one other fine song.

While at SXSW two weeks ago the great Sharon Van Etten performed and NPR captured her compelling performance.  Check the setlist and the video below:

All I Can
Warsaw
Give out
In Line
Kevin’s Way
Magic Chords
Leonard
Serpents

One of the best songs we discovered in 2011 was Conrad Plymouth’s Fergus Falls.  Heck, on a couple of days we put the sucker on repeat and listened only to that song each of those days.  We wrote about it HERE.  Turn’s out Conrad Plymouth’s leader, Chris Porterfield, has in 2012 renamed/reformed the band into Field Report.  Porterfield is amongst the famed alumni in legendary Wisconsin band DeYarmond Edison that also included Justin Vernon from Bon Iver and members of Megafaun.

Porterfield/Field Report  recently released a few tracks on SoundCloud, which caught the attention of producer Paul Kolderie (producer of similarly legendary Uncle Tupelo).  Field Report is now working on a new recording with Kolderie that should be released mid-summer.  We can’t wait.

The immediate upshot of this news is that Field Report has released a fantastically refined restatement of Fergus Falls.  As opposed to the more aggressive, anthemic Conrad Plymouth version, the song begins with finger-picked guitar that slowly builds with added synth wash, drum mallet and brush, then strings, horns (fully starting at 3:28) and harmonies.  Beauty.  We said this previously about the song’s lyrics:  “‘This is the one in which I miraculously pulled out/ Of a free-fall dive over Fergus Falls, Minnesota.'”  Sometimes we rejoice in victory.  At other times it’s enough to celebrate the aversion of a downward-spiral disaster and to proclaim victory in survival.”  This song provides positive proof that fantastic songs simply fall out of the sky at times.  Check it out below.  And after check out the only other Field Report song currently available, the heavily affecting I Am Not Waiting Anymore.  Field Report is currently on tour with the magnificent Megafaun.  Check out their tour dates way below.

03/30 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
03/31 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
04/03 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
04/04 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
04/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
04/06 – Tempe, AZ @ The Sail Inn
04/08 – Santa Fe, NM @ Sol Santa Fe
04/10 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
04/12 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
04/14 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom

This week, Drag City released a 7′ single featuring two of our favorite performers, Bill Callahan and Mickey Newbury.  We’ve written repeatedly about both.  On the new release, Bill Callahan (who almost never covers other artists’ songs) covers Mickey Newbury’s all-time great 1973 track Heaven Help the Child, backed by Newbury’s stellar original.  To top it off, Drag City and Callahan have released a black and white video of his cover below.  Great stuff.

While in Portland last week, the ascendant band, War On Drugs, took time to play for Kink FM radio.  Check out their performances of Brothers, Best Night, Black Water Falls, I Was There, and a faithful and propulsive cover (at the very bottom) of The Waterboys’ great chestnut, A Pagan Place.

Two nights ago Andrew Bird showed up on the Jimmy Fallon Show and whistled (at 1:57 to be exact) while he worked on Eyeoneye off of his critically-acclaimed new album Break It Yourself.   Check it out below (via the Audio Perv).

The great Daniel Lanois performed last Thursday at Toronto’s Great Hall to celebrate his induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.  We say:  what took ya so long, eh?  Well deserved Daniel.

In addition to being one of the best music producers extant, Lanois is one of our best songwriters and guitarists.  But where he really shines is on pedal steel, where his soulful touch is unparalleled.  Check out below his performance of Panorama and JJ Leaves L.A. accompanied by the equally great Brian Blade.  Hello up there.

After, check out Daniel’s songwriting, singing and the nonpareil feel and tone of his guitar playing on Fire (check out 5:19-6:00) and on The Collection of Marie Claire (check out in particular the chemistry of Lanois and Blade from 2:42-3:53) below.  Finally, check out one of his fan’s favorites, Jolie Louise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3uYTJ9VVFI&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V42IGEAw_hw&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODXMkNgpXDk&feature=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrkJ66FyM3M&feature=relmfu

Bear In Heaven’s new album I Love You, It’s Cool is out next week on Dead Oceans/Hometapes but you can hear it in it’s entirety on NPR right now.  The band is prepping to hit the road on a North American tour (dates below) that will segue into the UK and Europe in May and June.

Tour Dates

3/28 – Andy Warhol Museum – Pittsburgh, PA *
3/29 – The Bishop – Bloomington, IN *#
3/30 – The Basement – Columbus, OH *#
3/31 – MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH *#
4/01 – The Luminary Center for the Arts – St. Louis, MO *#
4/04 – Casbah – San Diego, CA * ^
4/05 – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA * ^
4/08 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA * ^
4/12 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR * ^
4/13 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA * ^
4/14 – The Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC * ^
4/17 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN * ^
4/18 – Schubas – Chicago, IL * ^
4/20 – Zanzabar – Louisville, KY * ^
4/21 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN * ^
4/22 – Hi-Tone Cafe – Memphis, TN * ^
4/24 – The Parish – Austin, TX * ^
4/25 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX * ^
4/26 – The Bottletree – Birmingham, AL * ^
4/27 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA * ^
4/28 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC * ^
4/29 – Kings Barcade – Raleigh, NC * ^
5/01 – Black Cat Backstage – Washington, DC * ^
5/02 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA * ^
5/03 – Brighton Music Hall – Allston, MA * ^
5/04 – La Sala Rossa – Montreal, QC* ^
5/05 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON * ^
5/06 – The Haunt – Ithaca, NY * ^
5/08 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY * ^
5/09 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY * ^

* Doldrums
#Young Magic
^ Blouse

5/16 – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen – London
5/17- Green Door Store- Brighton
5/18 – Liverpool Sound City – Liverpool
5/19 – Stag & Dagger- Glasgow
5/20 – Soup Kitchen – Manchester
5/22 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
5/23 – Louisiana- Bristol
5/25 – Club Solyanka – Moscow
5/26 – Le Guess Who?- Ultrecht NL
5/27- De Kreun – Kotrijk B
5/29 – Sonic – Lyon
5/30 – Point FMR – Paris
5/31 – Laiterie – Strasbourg
6/2 – Forbidden Fruit- Dublin
6/3 – Rock Cafe – Prague
6/4 – Chelsea – Vienna
6/5 – Kong – Munchen
6/6 – Spazio 211 – Torino
6/7 – Residenza Ausgang – Roma
6/8 – Hanna Bi – Marina di Ravenna
6/9 – Kaserne (ZAP Performance Festival) – Basel
6/11 – Studio 672 – Cologne
6/12 – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Berlin
6/14 – Vega – Copenhagen
6/15 – Hultsfred Festival – Hultsfred
6/16 – Bla – Oslo
6/18 – Uebel & Gefahrlich – Hamburg
6/22 – Dia de La Musica – Madrid

They said we would never write about the Grateful Dead.  All we can say is it took a National proclamation.  This past Saturday night, the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir asked some younger friends and fans to come down and play/attend a show at Weir’s own TRI Studios in San Rafael, California, all of which was webcast live on Yahoo! Music.  We always had a softer spot for Weir’s tighter  compositions and signature vocals, and actually owned one of his solo albums at some juncture, so we were intrigued by this new combination of talents.

At the show on Saturday, Weir was backed by The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bryan and Scott Devondorf, as well as Doveman and members of the Walkmen, Takka Takka, and the Yellowbirds.  About 100 people crammed into the tiny room, and the band played sundry Dead “classics,” along with covers of Bob Dylan, the National, and (of course) the great Cass McCombs. Our favorites were a cover of The National’s Daughters Of The Soho Riots and The Dead’s Uncle John’s Band, which you can check out below.  The former proved that this National song is one for the ages.  Weir started off somewhat shaky on lead vocal, but ultimately Weirded it up well (a little more volume on his vocals would have helped!! Come on mixers, step away from the pipe!) thanks in large part to the strength of his accompanists.  The latter song, a Dead specialty, saw some of the younger generation shine (despite some seriously off-key singing from some audience members way too close to the mic).  Check ’em out below along with the entire setlist after.

As Rolling Stone reported: “Between sets, Weir joined a roundtable political discussion moderated by Andy Bernstein of the voter registration group, HeadCount, which produced the event as a benefit for their organization.  The discussion also featured independent presidential candidate Buddy Roemer, climate change activist Jessy Tolkan, No Labels cofounder Mark McKinnon and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow.  They debated topics such as money in politics, personal freedom and the upcoming presidential election.”

SETLIST

“Help On The Way”
“Love Thine Enemy” (Cass McCombs)
“Looks Like Rain”
“El Paso”
“Friend Of The Devil”
“Cassidy”
“Daughters Of The Soho Riots” (The National)
“My Brother Esau”
//
“Me + My Uncle”
“Fake Empire” (The National)
“Most Of The Time” (Bob Dylan)
“Brown Eyed Woman”
“The Other One”
“Standing On The Moon”
“China Cat Sunflower”
“I Know You Rider”
//
“Ripple”
“Uncle John’s Band”
“Brokedown Palace”