So I get a call from my dad while I am at the radio station yesterday, asking me if I would have time to bring some stereo equipment out his way. I drove out, dropped off the stereo equipment, and we set out to grab a bit of late lunch. I had Jackson Browne’s Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 on the Ipod as we were driving in the car.

“This is Jackson Browne, who I like a lot,” I said to my dad as we drove towards destination lunch. Now this is the point that I’d love to tell you that we had some deep conversation about Jackson’s music, but that was pretty much it. Jackson became the background soundtrack to the overall car ride as we talked about the past week.

I just grabbed a Jackson Browne DVD, with longtime collaborator David Lindley that should be required viewing for anyone that appreciates fine musicianship. Taken from the touring that has produced the Solo Acoustic series, the DVD captures a show that is just Jackson and David, a couple of acoustic guitars and a piano. And most importantly, it has what both volumes of Solo Acoustic lack – a version of Late For The Sky. Awesome! Click here to check it out on Dimeadozen – you’ll need a membership, and if you don’t have one, they are free, and become available from time to time, so keep checking.

I’m guessing it was 1991 when I first heard David Lindley’s music. I was on vacation with my parents and sister in Destin, Florida, and we were going through the shops, and I heard a version of Werewolves of London that was very clearly not Warren Zevon. I asked the shop owner what was playing, and found out that it was David Lindley and El Rayo-X, the “Very Greasy” album. I would end up enjoying David’s music for several years, before learning of his connections with Jackson Browne.

Jackson. Where to begin? I got into Jackson late via the 1994 I’m Alive release. It was one of those early albums that really knocked me over with the lyrical depth contained within. A feeling very similar to when I heard the US album from Peter Gabriel. Two albums that as a music fan whose knowledge was still developing, I marveled at all that they both had been through emotionally to arrive at the material that wound up on the album. I learned later that with Jackson, that’s his entire catalog. Jackson is like many of us, who have been through so many things that should have made us say uncle, yet we pushed on. And in Jackson’s case, he put it into song brilliantly, and continues to do so.

Jackson is on the list of artists that I haven’t seen live. I’m really hoping to fix that, this year. Hoping that with the new Solo Acoustic CD, that the tour cycle will bring him to Cleveland, or close enough to road trip it.

We’ll see.

On another note, friend Jack tips me off to the fact via a cryptic comment on my Myspace page, that the new Matthew Sweet album is FINALLY set for release in July. I already find great promise in the album title of Sunshine Lies, and hopefully the touring that is allegedly going to accompany the release will bring Matthew towards Cleveland! I should also mention that Matthew gets huge props from me lately, for his phenomenal work with up and comers The Bridges. I can’t WAIT for the pending release of their Matthew Sweet produced debut in June. Check out some of their songs, and you’ll be psyched too, like I am!

One more thing: Bruce Hornsby. I think that my buddy Jack will probably appreciate this the most, so pay attention 🙂 A friend of mine (thank you JIM!!!) who knows that I am a big Hornsby fan, sent me a “surprise” a couple of months back. It is a solo music and question/answer session with Bruce, recorded in December of 1998 at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, FL – a studio that to me, is best known for some of the famous metal albums that have been recorded there. Bruce sat down for this particular radio interview and performance with an interviewer that was very on the ball, and he conducted a great interview with Bruce. In the midst of one of the interview segments, Bruce and the DJ spent about 13 minutes talking about how Bruce had been working to further develop and enhance his playing skills over the past 4 years. I was VERY interested to hear the discussion, considering that this is Bruce Hornsby, who to me is a rarity, and here’s my reasoning on that. When Bruce Hornsby guests on an artist’s album – you hear that piano part, and it is unmistakable that Bruce is playing on the track. See Don Henley’s End of the Innocence, Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me, etc. etc. etc.

Bruce discusses his work to develop polyrhythmic skills in his playing style, demonstrates what that is for the non-musically inclined, and on the tail end, they discuss some of his favorite musical collaborations over the years. I thought it was a great hour’s worth of Bruce, and this is 13 minutes of it that I consider to be must hear stuff. Check it out, and for those that dig stuff like this, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Link

That’s it from here, for now. Thanks for reading!