Thanks to Mary Elizabeth and Robin, I’ve got a gig lined up on Tuesday in Sausalito:

Northpoint Coffee
1250 Bridgeway (@ Turney)
Sausalito, CA
7 PM 6 PM Last Minute change – sorry!

There will be some other songwriters on the bill, though exactly who is TBD.  Stop by if you need a trip out of the City.

I’ve been reading a really interesting book.  Paul Zollo was the editor of SongTalk magazine for a number of years and had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s greatest songwriters.  Songwriters on Songwriting is a compilation of his interviews from the past 20 years or so.  He sits down with the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Randy Newman and many others to talk about the craft of songwriting.  I’m about 3/4 of the way through the book (730 pages and 62 interviews!).  Here are some interesting notes that have stuck in my head:

• Paul Simon seemed to dismiss all of his work with Art Garfunkel as immature.  Most of the music for Graceland was completed in the studio before he started actually writing the lyrics.
• There doesn’t seem to be one “right way” to approach songwriting, with one exception – almost all songwriters talk about carving out regular time every day to craft music.  This reminds me of a recent interview with Ryan Adams.
• All writers agreed that songwriting is hard work, but most referred to the occasional song that seemed to come from somewhere outside of them in an inspirational flash.  I have had this happen on a few songs – nothing left to lose is the latest.  I’m not sure that I buy into these songs as gifts from a higher power, but I do think that if you are constantly thinking about this stuff and you’re listening for good ideas, you’ve set the stage to allow inspiration to grab you.
• That said, Townes Van Zandt dreamt he was playing a new song on stage, liked it so much that he played it again to teach it to himself, and woke up the next morning able to play it for his friends (Guy and Susannah Clark).  Wow.
• On the other end of the spectrum, Sammy Cahn, who wrote many timeless classics for the likes of Frank Sinatra, did so mostly on spec (i.e. Frank’s got a movie with title The Tender Trap, I need you to have a song of that title written by this afternoon).  His joke – Q: “Which comes first, the lyric or the music?” A: “The phone call!”
• Finally, I really have no idea what Bob Dylan was talking about in his interview, but it sure sounded beautiful.

If you’re interested in songwriting as a craft, I highly recommend putting Songwriters on Songwriting on your reading list.

It’s been too long since I’ve played at the Bazaar Café, but I’m about to rectify that problem.  Sunday, November 2nd I’ll be trading sets of original music with Molly Stenhouse from 6 – 8:30 PM.  Here are the details:

Sunday, November 2 from 6:00 – 8:30 PM
Bazaar Café
http://www.bazaarcafe.com/
5927 California Street, between 21st & 22nd Avenues
San Francisco, CA 94121

Come out on Sunday and bring friends!

I’ve been playing around with the basics for this song for several months, but I didn’t really figure out what it was about until vacation in Joshua Tree.  I was going to title it i don’t know #2 (because idk #1 is on downtime), but I think this is a much better title:

it’s not you, it’s me

Yes, that’s a whistle solo in the middle.  I recorded this in one take and whistled in place of what was intended to be a guitar solo, but the whistling is growing on me.  Maybe I’ve been inspired by Andrew Bird.

That makes 6 solid new songs in the hopper since the last album with a few more that are marinating.  I think a new album is in the works for 2009…

Photo Credit: Goofing around in Joshua Tree with Christopher Bost behind the camera

Super late notice, but I’m going to bring my guitar over to Cafe La Flore tonight and play a few songs with my friends Robin and Eric.  I want to get some live feedback on a new song (titled either “it’s not you, it’s me” or “i don’t know #2”) that I may or may not have finished this afternoon.  Apparently this place is super small and chill.  Come by if you want to relax a bit:

Time: TONIGHT, Saturday, at 7pm.
Where: Cafe La Flore – 1032 Clement St, San Francisco (map and directions)

More gigs coming soon…

Almost a year after setting up digital distribution on CDBABY, downtime has finally made its way to Rhapsody.  I have no idea how I get compensated for this, but I’d like to find out.  If you’re a Rhapsody subscriber, please go download it and set play on repeat.

Even if you’re not a subscriber, Rhapsody will allow 25 free plays per month.  So do me a favor and play the tracks below a couple of times and we’ll see if I recoup my setup costs.  Thanks!

The Nicest Guy She’d Meet
I Can’t Feel Love
I Don’t Know
Micheline
Grumble
Come Again
The Bitter Guy
Cryin’ Dyin’ Blues
Magic
Marie’s Song
New York’s Just a Dream
Not Anymore
November
Micheline Reprise

BTW – Just got back from a week in Joshua Tree.  Like last year, Christopher and I got some great recording done.  I’ll post some stuff as soon as I’m done mixing and mastering.  But first I’ve got a couple of days to spend at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival!

Tonight was the night.  It was of course, incredible.  I don’t want to make this an all Willie all the time blog, but a few notes:

• It’s all about the phrasing.  I’m not the first person to say it, but the phrasing is the magical ingredient in Willie’s music.  The way he turns a phrase and the way he plays a line on the guitar.  It just makes you feel good.
• Beyond that, the simple straight to the heart lyrics speak to just about everyone.  I try to pin down the demographic at concerts, but there was no demographic tonight – Willie’s appeal is universal.
• His stuff is timeless.  I’ve seen Merle a few times and I saw Waylon before he died and they were great, but Willie’s music never comes across as dated.  It always has been relevant, even when he’s playing American standards.

Two more things of interest…

• Look at the ticket above, then look at the one from my previous post.  The service fee on tonight’s show is more expensive then the entire ticket in 1984.  Times have changed, but come on.
• As I contemplate selling my car, it’s nights like tonight that give me pause.  Bay Area weather rarely affords the opportunity to drive with the top down and watch the stars.  The drive was almost as enjoyable as the show.  It reminded me of this VW/Nick Drake commercial.

Yes, I just referenced a car commercial.  Deal with it.

Finally, some music.  At the show tonight Willie played a great, bluesy cover of Milk Cow Blues. I love this song, but what is it that keeps people playing it since Kokomo Arnold recorded it in the 30’s?  Robert Johnson did it.  Bob Wills turned it into a Western Swing standard.  And of course nobody does it better than the King.  Enjoy.

Patty Griffin has it. I don’t know what it is, but you just know it when you hear it. Case in point, several years ago I went to see Patty at a songwriter’s pull with Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Dar Williams at the Warfield. All lovely singer songwriters in their own right; but it must have been embarrassing for those women to share the stage with Patty. Something about her electrifying voice speaks right to the heart and makes all other sound pale in comparison. Much like James Taylor, I think Patty could sing anything and she would have the audience swooning. Over the years I’ve swooned at the Variety Playhouse, the Warfield x2, the Fillmore x2, the Great American Music Hall, a tiny Tex Mex restaurant in South Austin and Slim’s on the hottest SF day on record with surprise guest Natalie Maines….

So last night I went to see her at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. And while this wasn’t the absolute best Patty Griffin performance I’ve seen, it was in full effect. Of note, she opened with the cover Hang on St. Christopher which is off one of my favorite Tom Waits albums. Happily she played a few older songs from Flaming Red – an album that is jarring compared to her folkier work but brilliant and under appreciated. She did play my current favorite Up to the Mountain, but sadly without the lead guitar of Doug Lancio this time.

My favorite albums, not surprisingly, are the ones where she really lets he voice shine.  She said in concert last year that she’d been advised to sing quietly on previous albums.  Thankfully she ignored that and really belted out on her latest masterpiece, Children Running Through.  It shows. If you don’t have this album, go buy it now. Sadly, it looks like Rhapsody doesn’t have it available, so I can’t link to samples here.

Her debut album Living With Ghosts will always hold a special place in my heart. It reminds me of contented Sunday mornings and cardamom flavored coffee. That has nothing to do with the album – all acoustic guitar and vocals filled with loud, bitter tunes – but more because I’ve got my own things going on.  Anyway, here’s the album on Rhapsody:

Moses
Let Him Fly
Every Little Bit
Time Will Do The Talking (Mariah moment and all)
Mad Mission
Poor Man’s House
Forgiveness
You Never Get What You Want
Sweet Lorraine
Not Alone

And here are a few gems from Flaming Red:

One Big Love
Tony
Change

Also check out Chief, Tomorrow Night and Mil Besos from 1,000 Kisses.

Finally, I’ve made my sister record some Patty Griffin tunes over the years.  I Write the Book (clip here) is off some bootleg I found and probably my all time favorite Patty song (really, really bitter):

I Write the Book
Time Will Do the Talking
One Big Love

Take a listen. If you figure out what it is, please let me know.

Indulge me on this rambling post.  Everybody likes to play that “what was your first concert?” game.  I think mine was pretty cool:

Yes, I’m a pack rat and hold on to things like ticket stubs forever.  I think we still have the red-headed stranger bandanna somewhere, but sadly the 3/4 length sleeve baseball shirt that said Willie in the shape of the state of Texas is long gone.  (Do you have to ask if I got picked on in junior high?)

Anyway, I’m going to see Willie Nelson at the Mountain Winery in a couple of weeks, so I’ve been listening to him non-stop.  According to the media player folks at Yahoo, I should be able to share here and you can listen to 25 full songs before it starts playing snippets.  So, an eclectic list of Willie Nelson recordings for your listening pleasure:

Ou Es Tu, Mon Amour? (Where Are You, My Love?)
I Never Cared For You
Three Days
Stardust
Georgia On My Mind
All Of Me
Time Of The Preacher
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Red Headed Stranger
Heartaches Of A Fool
Good Hearted Woman
Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground
Look What Thoughts Will Do
I’d Have To Be Crazy
Crazy

Added bonus #1
Gary Allan has written a hilarious song about Willie Nelson:

What Would Willie Do (lyrics)

He loves all the people no matter their races
Hell he even had a hit country song with Julio Iglesias
And that ain’t easy to do…

This reminds me of the quote on my sister’s email signature:

In Texas, we all share the common religious belief that if we live a good life, when we die, we go to Willie Nelson’s house.

– Kinky Friedman

Added bonus #2
One of the more interesting concerts I’ve been too was Carla Bozulich’s tour in support of her 2003 concept album, Red Headed Stranger.  With Willie’s blessing she re-made Red Headed Stranger – a concept album of its own – track for track.  The results are unique and outstanding:

Time Of The Preacher
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Red Headed Stranger

BTW – Much of the guitar work on Carla’s album comes from Nels Cline, who’s now playing for Wilco.  Willie plays on a couple of songs as well…

Enjoy.

I promised in my earlier post that I would take a stab at recording this one the same way that I wrote it.  Here’s Broken Wings with the electric guitar behind it:

Broken Wings – Electric

For reference, here’s the more polished acoustic version:

Broken Wings – Acoustic

Hmmm… still not there.  But closer?  Eh, at least it’s fun to sing.  I think I’ll work on some new stuff for now and come back later.

Here’s how anti-anything-pop-culture I was in 1985.  I had no idea a song titled Broken Wings was a #1 hit for Mr. Mister until I did a search on the title just now.  Apparently Nothing Left to Lose is a relatively more recent single by Mat Kearney.  Thankfully, it looks like no one has written a woman-killing song titled Micheline besides me, so I’ve got that going for me.  It’s all good – according to the New York Times’ songwriter’s blog, we’re all rip off artists anyway.

Photo Credit: James H.