Tuesday Tunesday: Beach House
Beach House “Myth” Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House has a very dreamy feel in this debut track from their new album, “Bloom.” Admittedly, I’m not as familiar with this band as I am with the blues musicians that I usually feature on the Tuesdays Tunesday segments. However, this band has a great sound to them,...
Tuesday Tunesday: Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe “Tightrope” Hailing from Kansas, Monáe is one of the best modern blues-pop-rap-R&B (is that even a genre?) artists out there. Her music is entirely her own, and you can tell she is one of those people who enjoys a huge array of music and brings it all together into her own style. Monáe is...
Tuesday Tunesday: Paul Pena
Paul Pena “Good Horses” Paul Pena was born with congenital glaucoma, and was totally blind by the age of 20. However, this didn’t stop him from becoming extremely adept at the guitar and music in general. While he had a very good career as a blues guitar player, his most interesting story comes in his...
Tuesday Tunesday: Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup “If I Get Lucky” On this day in 1941, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup recorded this track, “If I Get Lucky,” and it became one of his most famous songs of his career. Crudup was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, which he exemplifies in his music that chugs along like...
Tuesday Tunesday: Lead Belly
Lead Belly “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Huddie William Ledbetter, AKA Lead Belly, is a legend in blues history. Lead Belly has his hands in virtually every rock, blues, or country band since the Great Depression–whether they know it or not. However, the most interesting part of the Lead Belly legacy is perhaps not...
Tuesday Tunesday: Patrick Sweany
Patrick Sweany “Them Shoes” I’m not sure what’s in the water in Ohio, but the blues are definitely alive and well up there. Patrick Sweany, along with The Black Keys, is one of the best modern bluesmen still living. In fact, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys helped produce Sweany’s 2007 album and used to...
Tuesday Tunesday: Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher” When I think of a short list of true, natural, gifted stage performers, Cab Calloway is always on that list. Calloway is probably known best for the chorus in his song, “Minnie the Moocher,” but he was a very talented scat singer and big band leader in the 30s and...
Tuesday Tunesday: Dean Martin
Dean Martin “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?” What kind of man is worshiped by Elvis Presley, donned the “coolest man who ever lived” by Playboy, a former boxing prizefighter and liquor bootlegger, and one of the smoothest lady-killers of all time? Why, Dean Martin, of course. Dean grew up speaking only Italian until he went...
Tuesday Tunesday: Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra “That’s Life” When I hear the words “Frank” and “Sinatra” I think of one word: boss. If you haven’t heard of Sinatra, I hope this knocks the rock over that you’ve been living under. Sinatra is one of the greatest American singers and showmen of all time, focusing on bravado and a singing...
Tuesday Tunesday: Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues” The man in black, the philosopher-prince of country music. Johnny Cash. How can someone start to explain the life, career, and impact of Johnny Cash? Cash, much like Merle Haggard, is often regarded as a pioneer of “outlaw country” given his history with barbiturates and crimes. In fact, he was the...
Tuesday Tunesday: The Tallest Man on Earth
The Tallest Man on Earth “Where Do My Bluebird Fly?” Kristian Matsson, otherwise known as his stage name The Tallest Man on Earth, is one of the more interesting modern musicians who draws on folk and blues and makes it his own. Swedish-born Matsson began listening to Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger at an early...
Tuesday Tunesday: Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard “The Fightin Side of Me” In honor of listening to Merle for most of a 6 hour drive across the Texas plains today, I thought it was only fitting that I featured him in this week’s Tuesday Tunesday. Haggard is an extremely famous country singer who exemplifies the outlaw country genre, along with...
