Posts in: Music

Speaking of Green Lung, I’m too much of a boring middle-aged CPA dad sort of human to have what the kids call an aesthetic. If I did, though, it would be “PNW hiker watching folk horror and listening to 70s psychedelic rock.”

Now spinning — though with headphones since my wife and daughter don’t exactly like psychedelic, occult, doom (what do I call them?) rock. Also, cool liner notes.

Austin Kleon mentioned Betty Davis on the occasion of her death a few days ago - and what I want is know is how I lived 45 years on this earth without hearing her music? 🎵

The Black Belt was a region in the American South known for its rich, black soil. It was home to many cotton plantations and, consequently, enslaved black people. During the Great Migration, large numbers of black people moved out of the South into northern cities, taking the blues and other cultural creations with them. Not all moved, though. Alabama Blackbelt Blues is a documentary by Alabama Public Television on the continuing blues tradition in Alabama’s portion of the Black Belt. (Watch the trailer here.)

If you like the blues, you’ll like this documentary - simple as that. It’s given me a whole list of singers and musicians to listen to. And, unsurprisingly, the names of John and Alan Lomax come up regularly as collectors and preservers of this music. I plan to explore their collections more thoroughly soon.

Listen: “Trouble So Hard” by Vera Hall

Now spinning: D-Vine Spirituals. It’s a new release of recordings of Black gospel groups from the seventies and if any of those words light you up, you’ll love this album. It’s also available digitally, of course, in all the usual places.