Memorial Day - Volunteers

Mark Erelli raises a beautiful barn

Eric Danton, or the Hartford Courant, has a nice piece this morning about alternative methods musicians are using to raise enough cash to record albums.

As a contributor to Mark Erelli's cause, I'm happy to say that the new album, Delivered, is his most accomplished yet, the bonus CD is filled with interesting alt takes of album songs, and song which didn't make the final cut, and the letterpress poster by Bennett Holzworth is beautiful.

A summer wind, a cotton dress?

On entering Greenfield's Energy Park, the first person I bumped into was Richard Shindell. The rumors of his gangrenous arm are hugely exaggerated. He wore a modest bandage on his index finger, and confirmed that he lopped off a tiny piece while chopping wood with an ax.

When I asked him if it was "against the rules" for musicians to use such like sharp objects he laughed and said, "No, musicians shouldn't be so precious. They ought to be doing things like chopping wood, and living life."
(photo: SF Hansen)

The injury didn't prevent him from delivering a complete set, and somehow he was able to form chords, even with his deformed digit.

The show opened with Mark Erelli, singing as strongly as I've ever heard him, and greeted warmly by a large crowd which filled every flat space in the tiny park which borders a well-used rail bed. In fact, one announcer challenged the musicians to sing "Folsom Prison Blues," if a train passed. Fortunately for Caroline Herring, a train entered the scene, with the engineer waving, just as she finished her last song. Her set was a revelation of her skills as another in a line of talented Southern storytellers.

This free concert, in the center of Greenfield Massachusetts, was a kickoff for the 22nd Green River Festival. Producer, and founder of Signature Sounds Records, Jim Olsen didn't seem to be worried about anything but rain. "It's been nine years since a drop of rain has fallen on this festival," he confided. It seems like we're past due."

The forecast if for hot, humid weather - typical for the festival weekend. And with a new dance tent, and some great acts, including Lucinda Williams, Mavis Staples, Crooked Still, The Red Stick Ramblers and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, it ought to get steamy.



(photo: SF Hansen - Mark, Flora and me)

A boy cries out for his mama, before he dies for his home

Red and black balloons blow across the wide lawns where collapsed folding chairs are piled ready for transport beneath the sweep of the enormous tents that had been set up for Wesleyan's graduation, and of course, for Barack Obama's visit (lots of good stuff on Wesleying this morning regarding the event).

This is the day when my neighborhoods shifts rhythms to the summer mode. With five houses on my block completely empty for the summer, the neighborhood would be something of a quiet ghost town if it weren't for the hoodlums who traverse the street at all hours shouting into cell phones as if the cells were tin cans attached with a taut string.

This morning we'll head down to the Memorial Day Parade where I, for one, will consider how readily our leaders dispose of the plentiful bodies of our patriotic young men and women. The dead are our country's heroes. The families pay the most horrible price. Our leaders are culpable. As Phil Och's sang, "It's always the old who lead us to the war. It's always the young who fall."

Michael Roth's words from yesterday's commencement echo large:

"You will hear people tell you that the greatest protection against violence is surveillance, that greater security is developed with higher fences to keep out the foreigners, or that we must project violence on distant shores to keep our homes safe. DO NOT BELIEVE THESE MESSAGES. Please remember that your education stands in opposition to non-sense and cruelty; please recall your capacity to create when others around you call for destruction."

For my part, the thought of God Bless America, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, or the National Anthem, while the easy choices for the day, are the least appropriate.

Here's what I'll listen to, and I invite you to join me:

Phil Ochs, I Ain't A' Marchin' Anymore

Billy Bragg, Everywhere (written by Greg Trooper and Syd Griffith)



Eric Bogle, The Green Field's of France (No Man's Land)



The Pogues, The Band Played Waltzin' Matilda (written by Eric Bogle, but turned into a classic by the Pogues)



Dan Bern, After the Parade

Mark Erelli, Volunteers

Neck deep in the big muddy

And the big fool says to push on.

Marking the death of the 4,000 American soldier (how is it we always leave Iraqui dead out of this equation), we listen to Dick Cheney equivocate and Pete Seeger and Mark Erelli sing.

Concert of the Week

Mark Erelli
Saturday February 9, 7:30 pm
Roaring Brook Nature Center

Mark Erelli hasn't shied away from political commentary in his songs. Almost immediately after the attacks of 9/11, he released a single called The Only Way, which reflected the we're-in-it-together sense that we all had at the time, and the sense that living well, and fearlessly was the best response to terror (the song appears now on his most recent album, Hope and Other Casaulties). More recently, he home-recorded a song about the men and women caught in the political morass, and desperation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The song, Volunteers, appeared first as a free monthly download on his website, and more recently as a video (featured here), recorded by legendary producer Don Was for his internet TV channel (Erelli relates the story of the recording on his website). I've played the song on my radio show, and have had callers tell me it has brought them to tears. If the world were a fair place, Erelli would be far better known than he is, but if that were so, you wouldn't have the opportunity to hear him at the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton.

Concerts of the Week

Brilliant Disguise: A Tribute to Bruce Springstreen
Thursday Jan 1o, 7pm
Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton MA

With, Thane Thomsen (The Figments) and Steve Sanderson (Drunk Stuntmen) and Matthew Loiacono (of Kamikaze Hearts) and Rusty Belle and Kevin O'Rourke of Lofine and Chris Pureka and Philip Price and Henning Ohlenbusch and Mark Mulcahy and Frank Manzi Band and Dave Houghton (Fancy Trash) and Matthew Hebert and Jeffrey Foucault and Dennis Crommett and Jose Ayerve (of Spouse) and Jim Armenti (Lonesome Brothers) and Erik Alan (The Amity Front). This sounds like all sorts of fun.



Lori McKenna Band and Mark Erelli
Saturday Jan 12, 7 & 10 pm
Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton MA

Lori struggled on the singer-songwriter circuit for years until she was taken under the wing of country star Faith Hill, and was then featured on Oprah. Erelli is her friend and plays in her touring band. He's got a new, and anticipated album, on the horizon.



Brooks Williams and Gail Wade
Saturday Jan 12, 8 pm
Buttonwood Tree, Middletown CT

Brooks is an amazing guitarist, and gifted songwriter, and Gale Wade found her muse a few years back, and has taken to the local stages with a beautiful vengance. The Buttonwood Tree is so intimate, it's like having the musicians in your living room without having to clean up after.



Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters
Saturday Jan 12, 7:30 pm
Connecticut Audobon Center, Glastonbury, CT

With two new albums in the racks (one with Roger Williams and one with Stillwaters), Gallatin has lots of new (and in fact some really old) material to try out on audiences.

Protest songs alive and well in 2007

(updates below)

They speak for themselves.

Mark Erelli - Volunteers


Jason Isbell - Dress Blues


Richard Thompson - Dad's Gonna Kill Me


Randy Newman - A Few Words In Defense of Our Country


Roy Zimmerman - Thanks for the Support


Bruce Springsteen - Long Walk Home


Cindy Lee Berryhill - When Did Jesus Become A Republican



Linda Thompson - Day After Tomorrow









Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Ah Mary




Billy Bragg as Johnny Clash - Old Clash Fan Fight Song