Bob's Yr Uncle

"Well uncle Pen played the fiddle, Lord, how it would ring? You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing..." Presenting a six pack to go about uncles, with extravagant art by the all-seeing Tinca.

Bill Monroe - Uncle Pen
Pearls Before Swine - Uncle John
Brian Eno - Third Uncle
Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia
Bad Livers - Uncle Lucius
Drive-By Truckers - Uncle Frank

And let's go all out with a familiar trio of bonus tracks, just because we can...

Uncle Walt's Band - High Hill
Uncles - Settler's Song
Unkle - Bloodstain

Raised Up In The Cornfield

Finally managed to replace my copy of Delusions Of Banjer, that wonderful debut by the inimitable Bad Livers from Austin, Texas. My original copy fell victim to cd rot, I kid you not. To celebrate, here's a prime example of their modern twist on bluegrass, produced by Butthole Surfer Paul Leary. Banjo, fiddle and stand-up bass go wild, folks! And as a bonus track, as it's one of the greatest cover versions I've ever enjoyed, you get to hear them do the Pop, too.

Bad Livers - Uncle Lucius
Bad Livers -Lust For Life

Behind Me

"It's been a long long long way, I've got some more to go, don't look at my shadow, it's behind me..." Presenting a shadowy six pack for your listening pleasure. Like what you hear? Buy some albums why don't you.

Manassas - Don't Look At My Shadow

Bad Livers - How Dark My Shadow's Grown

Harry & Jeanie West - I'd Like To Be Your Shadow In The Moonlight

Bob Desper - Darkness Is Like A Shadow

The Fleshtones - Shadow Line

Screaming Trees - Shadow Of The Season

A Sailor´s Life...

...it is a merry life. That fado about Portuguese sailors in the post below made me think of other songs about that romantic but slowly disappearing profession. So while it seems that everybody else is busy blogging Christmas ditties (I won´t, promise...) here´s a six pack of delicious sailor songs for you. All hands on deck, lift the anchor, and hoist the main sail. The Titanic sails at dawn.

The alternative bluegrass trio Bad Livers tells all about Pee Pee The Sailor, in a hilarious Butthole Surfers cover. Anyone got the original btw? Never could track it down. Sandy Denny shines in Fairport Convention´s beautiful lament A Sailor´s Life, and master picker Leo Kottke finds a sailor´s grave in the strangest of places.

The Detroit Cobras do the marinero rock, while Tim Buckley goes way out there with some stellar vocal improvisation on Starsailor. Bob Dylan, in a rare live performance from ´92, relates of a female sailor. "In her jacket blue and trousers white, just like a sailor neat and tight, the sea, it was the heart's delight, of the female rambling sailor..." Heave ho!

Bad Livers - The Adventures Of Pee Pee The Sailor MP3

Fairport Convention - A Sailor´s Life MP3

Leo Kottke - The Sailor´s Grave On The Prairie MP3

Detroit Cobras - Hey Sailor MP3

Tim Buckley - Starsailor MP3

Bob Dylan - Female Rambling Sailor (live in Perth ´92) MP3