Ride Me High

Presenting six inspired covers to celebrate the bard's birthday. Eighty as we speak! Many happy returns, Bob.

 Barbara Keith - All Along The Watchtower
 Will Beeley - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
 Roger Tillison - Down In The Flood 
 Yo La Tengo - I Threw It All Away
 Scott Hirsch - Ain't No More Cane
 Nathan Salsburg & Joan Shelley - Dark Eyes

Purple Roses

And here we go with For The Sake Of The Song's dirty dozen of 2019, so take a step behind if you please. Unseen and out of sight, between the country and the mountains and the sea, and with ripping artwork by Tinca, these are the albums that moved and shook us this year.

1. Rose City Band - Rose City Band
2. Ian Noe - Between The Country
3. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

4. Garcia Peoples -  One Step Behind

5. Joan Shelley - Like The River Loves The Sea

6. Steve Gunn - The Unseen In Between
7. Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out Of Sight
8. Dire Wolves - Grow Towards The Light
9. Nick Cave - Ghosteen
10. James Matthew VII - Stoned When I Pray
11. Simon Joyner - Pocket Moon
12. Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms Of Surrender

Rose City Band - Rip City

See The Beauty

A new Joan Shelley album is always a gift. And Like The River Loves The Sea, recorded in Iceland with prime pickers Nathan Salsburg and James Elkington, might just be her best yet. As it proved real tough to select a  favorite tune, I went for the bittersweet gem below as it features Bonnie Prince Billy on co-vocals. Later it dawned on me that The Fading probably would have been even better without his contribution.

Joan Shelley - The Fading

Always Woman

Virgil, that famous Roman poet of old, is on record to have proclaimed that 'woman is ever a fickle and changeable thing'. Be that as it may, here's a pair of lovely recent tunes by two strong and talented women. Semper femina indeed. Let Laura Marling bowl you over first with the price track of her last album, and listen to Joan Shelley's mouthwatering take on an old chestnut next. I'm sure Nick Drake, and maybe even ole Virgil himself, would have been proud.

Laura Marling - The Valley
Joan Shelley - Time Has Told Me

What Love?

It's that time of year again, my amigos da musica, so hallelujah, here we go. FTSOTS presents the ten push and pulls of the year, not forgetting the finest reads around. Always a pleasure. Winning artwork - 'his dreams of music', yes sir - comme d'habitude by Tinca. Dig in and crack up.

1. Jake Xerxes Fussell - What In The Natural World
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Pinnacle Mountain Silver Mine
2. Colter Wall - s/t
Colter Wall - You Look To Yours
3. Joan Shelley - s/t
Joan Shelley - The Push And Pull
4. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up
5. The Feelies - In Between
6. The Weather Station - s/t
7. Hiss Golden Messenger - Hallelujah Anyhow
8. Here Lies Man - s/t
9. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
10. John Moreland - Big Bad Love

Flamenco dept:
Luis Moneo - Mi Cante, Mi Palabra

Top books on music:

1. Erin Osmon - Jason Molina: Riding With The Ghost

2. Clinton Heylin - Trouble In Mind: Bob Dylan's Gospel Years

3. Reinhard Kleist - Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

4. Allan Jones - Can't Stand Up For Falling Down: Rock'n'Roll War Stories

Endless Sea

A warm and much-needed refuge in turbulent times, or: that new self-titled Joan Shelley album sure is sweet. In a remarkably understated Jeff Tweedy production, the singer and songwriter from Louisville proves a worthy successor to such legendary lady vocalists from the other side of the pond as Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson et al. One more surefire contender for the end of year lists.

Joan Shelley - If The Storms Never Came