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The Day the Music Survived
Above: “True Love Ways” is The Daily Record’s favorite Buddy Holly song. By Joel Francis Fifty years ago this week, the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed in an Iowa...
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15 jazz greats to emerge in the last 20 years (part two)
(Above: The Kora Jazz Trio in concert.) By Joel Francis Continuing The Daily Record’s look at the state of jazz today, here is the second of three installments shedding light on 15 jazz greats to...
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Jay Bennett, Always In Love
(Above: Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy perform the unreleased Wilco song “Cars Can’t Escape.”) By Joel Francis When I first heard Jay Bennett had been fired from Wilco back in 2001, I was worried the...
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Elvis Costello –“Secret, Profane and Sugarcane”
By Joel Francis When Elvis Costello picked up an acoustic guitar in the mid-‘80s after two baffling albums full of horns and keyboards, the result was one of the high points in Costello’s...
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Review: Cross Canadian Ragweed
(Above: Cross Canadian Ragweed show off their new song “51 Pieces.” What’s with the Raiders shirt on an Oakie?) By Joel Francis The Kansas City Star The television show “CMT Crossroads” found a niche...
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Classic Christmas Carol: “Fairytale of New York”
(Above: “Fairytale of New York” may be the best modern Christmas song of all time.) By Joel Francis There aren’t many Christmas songs set in jail, but dang if songwriter Shane McGowan and the Pogues...
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Classic Christmas Carol: “St. Stephen’s Day Murders”
(Above: Ceoltoiri Chluain Tarbh [Clontarf] go on the wren in 2008.) By Joel Francis Information on St. Stephen is scarce. Everything known about his life is contained in two chapters in the New...
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Review: Allen Toussaint
(Above: A snippet of Allen Toussaint’s cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” from one of his regular appearances at Joe’s Pub in New York City.) By Joel Francis The Daily Record At his first-ever...
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Rock Hall commemorates 35 years of Austin City Limits
(Above: Roy Orbison performs “(Oh) Pretty Woman” on “Austin City Limits” in 1983.) By Joel Francis The Daily Record The musical landscape of television was of a different world when “Austin City...
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Review: Elvis Costello and the Imposters
(Above: Elvis Costello and the Imposters take the stage on a hot summer night at Crossroads KC.) Joel Francis The Kansas City Star Elvis Costello solved the age-old problem of what to do when an...
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Social Distancing Spins – Day 11
By Joel Francis Let the hit parade continue. Sonic Youth – Washing Machine (1995) On the surface, Washing Machine appears to be just another release by avant rockers Sonic Youth. Released nine albums...
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Social Distancing Spins – Day 20
By Joel Francis O.V. Wright – Into Something-Can’t Shake Loose (1977) O.V. Wright is the greatest soul singer you’ve never heard. Wright had some chart success in the mid-to-late 1960s, but a prison...
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Social Distancing Spins – Days 22-24
By Joel Francis Saturdays and Sundays are for family time. I think the trend of fewer weekend spins and a combined entry spanning Friday through Sunday will continue going forward. The Dirtbombs –...
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