50 years ago .... "A Change is Gonna Come"

Fifty years ago today, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it his way. At that same event on the Mall in DC, Bob Dylan said it his way. But if Dylan isn't your cup of tea, how about this 1963 track from Sam Cooke.

Rory Block, "Twelve Gates to the City" (2012)

This tune opened up more avenues of exploration than I can count. I know right now is I've got brush up on my Rev. Gary Davis, learn some more about Jerusalem and definitely keep an eye on this country blues guitar master.
As the AllMusic.com guide put it, "[S]he does a remarkable job of channeling the basics of her subject's technique and grafting it onto her own inimitable style."

Roy Orbison: "Mystery Girl" (1989) (".... Am I left to burn, and burn eternally ...")

Bono and The Edge wrote this song for Roy. It was Roy's last record (released posthumously).

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - "California Soul" (1969; 1970)

I had this album, but I still didn't understand the influence Motown was having on the industry. I came to learn that Motown was built to generate crossover records of the highest quality. California Soul is a good, early example. Two stars, one at an early peak, Tammi recently passed -- Valerie Simpson filling in the spaces. With Ashford and Simpson writing and producing most of the songs, a pure crossover style, in both music and appearance -- this record charted pop but failed to chart R and B. This style lasted. Evolved, but lasted.

This single is an aural paradise.

Rolling Stones: "Factory Girl" (1968), (With Some Silly Censorship on the Side)

(From top to bottom: The Original Cover, LP Inside Photo Art 

and The Cover Released in December of 1968)

ON THIS DATE (44 YEARS AGO)
July 26, 1968 - Mick Jagger expected to celebrate his 25th birthday with the release of the Rolling Stones album, "Beggar’s Banquet," the first time his guitar playing was featured on a Stones record. The release was held up, however, because label executives feared that the cover, featuring a filthy men's room urinal with graffiti on the walls, would be judged offensive. The album was finally released in December of 1968, but with an all-white cover made to look like an invitation. By: All Things Music Plus

My colleague Richard Stranger brought this to my attention. Much ado about nothing, looking back. I love that original cover art, but more importantly, the music this album contains is essential listening. Beggar's Banquet also marks the beginning of a period of blues rock productivity that that has few rivals.

Here's a deep album, non-rock cut that's always been a favorite of mine.

"Either he's going to have to stand and fight, or take off out of here."

Joni Mitchell at her post-Blue (1971) finest, from her 1976 folk / jazz album Hejira -- Jaco Pastorius on bass on this cut, Coyote.

Dig it ladies and gentlemen!

It Wasn't So Hard

My first attempt making a YouTube video, such as it is.