Inspired by the May 12 birthdays of Burt Bacharach, Steve Winwood, George Carlin, Ian Dury, James Purify, Jimmy Spicer, Billy Squier, Billy Swan and songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-13-20)
Inspired by the April 13 birthdays of Al Green, Louis Johnson, Nellie McKay, Little Feat’s Lowell George, Bill Conti, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring, Lou Bega and Flamin’ Groovies’ Roy Loney.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (1-26-20)
Inspired by the January 25 birthdays of Alicia Keys, Etta James, Edmund Sylvers and Antonio Carlos Jobim and the January 26 birthdays of Lucinda Williams, Anita Baker, Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley, Eddie Van Halen, Ya Kid K, Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B, Huey “Piano” Smith and Jean Knight.
Get To Know Lucinda Williams
Over the course of her career, Lucinda Williams has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards. She’s won three, each in a different genre – rock, country and contemporary folk. Her breakthrough album, 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, topped the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for that year and made Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all-time.
In addition, I’m a fan, and that should be reason enough for you to check out her work if you’re not already familiar.
Today Tunes du Jour celebrates the 61st birthday of Lucinda Williams.
I auditioned for American Idol
In February 2002 my friend Sophie and I auditioned to be the hosts of a new US television series based on the successful UK show Pop Idol. On American Idol, amateur singers competed against each other and the public voted for the winner.
I’ve never seen American Idol. It’s not because I’m bitter I didn’t get the job. I have a different opinion than many of the show’s viewers as to what constitutes good singing. Being loud and hitting high notes do not necessarily make for great singing. A great singer is expressive, feeling the words they are singing. Aretha Franklin and Adele are two singers who can belt and hit a wide range of notes. They also know when to sing softly or when not to let vocal gymnastics get in the way of the song. They are great singers. Bob Dylan and Tom Waits are also great singers. They own their material. They feel their material. They live their material (more accurately, the personas they put forth for each song lives the material).
Dylan and Waits are also great songwriters. Dylan is the better-known of the two, but as today is Waits’ birthday, I’m going to focus on him. His songs have been recorded by a diverse group of artists, including Elvis Costello, Eagles, The Ramones, Johnny Cash, The Pogues, Solomon Burke, Steve Earle, Marianne Faithfull, The Neville Brothers, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen and Neko Case, the latter two appearing on today’s playlist with Waits covers. His sole US top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 was not as an artist, but as the writer of “Downtown Train,” which Rod Stewart took to the top ten in 1990.
Today’s Tom Waits-inspired playlist kicks off with the singer-songwriter’s version of that one hit. Enjoy!