While Room 8 is where Parsons left this earth, and New Orleans is where his remains were buried, it’s at Cap Rock — a landmark deep in Joshua Tree National Park, where a boulder rests atop a rock formation surrounded by the park’s namesake trees — that fans pay him respect. Packs of cigarettes and bottles of booze are placed at the site, as Parsons is believed to have been cremated there. The messages “Safe at Home” and “Gram Lives” adorn nearby rocks.
There is, of course, still hope and time for further Lindsey Buckingham triumphs, further examples of him doing things his own way and further experimentation with the narrative of the music he loves. Even a relatively recent album (left9 with Christine McVie, as was, featured some beautiful moments, such as Red Sun (that received massive Radio BBC 2 airplay from the UK), and (ironically) Love Is Here To Stay.
Her eponymous debut album came out in 1991 and in the just over thirty years that have since passed she has released another twenty, so Sharon Shannon, singer, songwriter and button accordion player is as prolific as she is profoundly talented.
Jose Antonio Farjado is at an interesting stage in his career and may well make some important discoveries about the transportative nature of music and the arts in general.
And I will read, and probably leave until last to do so, a book called Naomi Judd, a book that has perhaps been published in haste, talking about the recent death of Naomi Judd, the mother half of my favourite country female duo The Judds. We reported on this in an article called on 25th May in The Judds: A Tragedy Of Our Times, which you can find in our easy to negotiate archives containing more than 650 arts related features.
Whether a few, some, many or all of the students we have seen at these concerts will go onto become professional players all those who do so will have had the best possible care and preparation shown to them. That the musicians were able to relax and play well with their teachers in attendance and leading them speaks loudly of the rapport between them.
Another quality that makes Newman’s songwriting so fascinating to so many—outside of the compositional characteristics—is how easily he is able to toe the line between offensive and profound.
And also a song I wrote with a Nashville friend of mine called “Bob Dylan Whiskey.” You know how Bob Dylan has his own brand of whiskey? It’s called Heaven’s Door. He made a $10 million deal with whiskey manufacturers and he has his own brand of whiskey. So my friend and I were thinking that somebody needs to write some Bob Dylan songs to help change the world. We’re in a lot of trouble right now – maybe if I drink this whiskey, I can write a Bob Dylan song.
I tend to go to the desert every year, down on the border by Terralingua, and just sort of make a big deal out of being under the stars and experiencing It wholeheartedly. I think the idea is that we can’t see the stars in our normal day-to-day experiences, because we’re not looking. But when something knocks us off our regular life—and oftentimes that is some kind of a struggle or a painful event—we begin to get more introspective. I think it’s a metaphor for that.
Colvin was recognized for her career accomplishments when she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award at the 2016 Americana Honors and Awards Show. Presenting her with this prestigious award was Bonnie Raitt, who said Said Raitt, ´She’s simply one of the best singers I’ve ever heard — and a truly gifted and deep songwriter and guitarist… She was ground-breaking when she emerged and continues to inspire me and the legions of fans and other singer/songwriters coming up in her wake´.
