Friday music, and random thoughts

Last week I read about this Ohio woman who blogs about NBC News' Brian Williams' necktie choices after each broadcast (http://brianwilliamstiereportarchives.blogspot.com). My first reaction was, "Huh? Really? Seriously?" It seemed like the most mundane topic about which to write--you know, as opposed to which songs I have listened to on the train every morning this week--until I read further and learned that she's a high school English teacher whose whole object is to impress upon her students that a writer writes. Every day. Because she has to. Because in order to be a good writer--or a good whatever--one must work on it every day, without fail. The Ohio necktie blogger woman fully admits that her blog topic is a silly one, but her hope is her students will see that that is not the point. It's consistency that serves to hone one's craft.

On my band's myspace, I can see how many people read my blogs each day and each week. But this one, I really don't know who reads it, if anyone. And I really don't care. Sure, any artist of any kind who puts creative output into public display would like to know someone out there is taking notice on some level, and I am not alone in thinking that way. In fact, I tend to think that my life is very much an open book. I am always amused by people who I don't see for long periods of time who will say, geez, I've been wondering where you've been all these years and what you've been up to? I think to myself, really? Then you must not be trying hard. I am easily googleable (assuming you can spell my last name). You can, fairly easily, find out where I work, where I'm living, what I look like, all about my band, hear my songs, read my lyrics, and, at least this week, find out all about my musical tastes on a daily basis. If you can't find me, it's because you weren't thinking about me, or you have no idea how to work a search engine (which I doubt).

With Jo Henley, the whole goal is to get noticed as much as possible. All of my creative output is designed to be made public, if not immediately, then at least very soon. But my idea with this blog here was to have a place where I could say anything I want, whether it relates to the band or not. I have a compulsion about putting my thoughts down into words. It is therapeutic for me. I used to have a consistent outlet for that, but I don't any longer; this blog has become an alternative to that, a way to empty my head each day so that I don't drown in my own thoughts. I realize that I don't actually share anything overly deep here, as a rule, but the process of writing relaxes me and makes me feel productive. I also get to work on lyrics, write poetry, and maybe, just maybe, there are people out there who find a few minutes of mild pleasure in what I have to say.

On the first of November I made a promise to blog every day. I have not done so. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to. They say shoot for the moon, and at worst you'll land in the stars, right? I knew if I said publicly my intention was to blog daily, I would come pretty damn close; I am stubborn, oftentimes to a fault. This is, I believe, my 30th post in 36 days or something like that, so not too bad...

Onto the music. This is my last day of this. I am not sure why I started to do this on Monday, though probably because I had nothing else to say but knew I wanted to clack away on my keyboard for a while and string words together and sprinkle them with commas and periods and semicolons, and hopefully not too many ellipses and exclamation points, both of which are cringingly overused. For the record, I am aware that I just used "hopefully" incorrectly. And I am pretty sure "cringingly" is not a real word. Oh well.

Yes, right, the music.

The Dramatics, "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get": Motown gets all the props as the preeminent powerhouse of '60s and '70s soul music, and rightfully so, but they were not the only label putting out amazing soul and R&B during that era. Just as important to the genre was the Memphis label Stax. Stax gave us Booker T and the MGs, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers, and Otis Redding, just to name a few. If you think you don't know some of these names, listen to any Stax compilation and you'll realize some of the most popular songs of all time came out of Stax. The biggest difference between Motown and Stax was that Motown was the pretty label with the lush sound and their stars were molded to cater more toward a white audience, as they were the ones with the money to fork over on records and concerts. Motown relied more on big multi-part harmony vocals, where as Stax was dirtier, grittier, and leaned more toward big horn parts in place of bloated backing vocals.I could go on, but that's for you to discover. This song by The Dramatics blows my mind. The groove is off the hook, the vocals are to die for, and the sound!! Ah, the sound!! Unlike some Motown stuff that sounds dated and washed out, this track sounds as if it were recorded yesterday and produced by Timbaland. It's that timeless, full, and flat-out funky.

The Four Tops, "Baby I Need Your Loving": When I saw on the news a couple months ago that Levi Stubbs passed away, I was saddened. That passionate, powerful, and larger-than-life voice of his as lead singer of The Four Tops is forever woven into the fabric of American culture: "I Can't Help Myself," "It's the Same Old Song," "Bernadette," and on and on. This song was stuck in my head for weeks earlier this year, when we were mixing the new JH album. Not only is it a dynamite song, but there is a way-too-loud tambourine in there. One's natural instinct is to make sure that nothing sticks out when mixing--that the vocals aren't any louder than the guitars, and the bass isn't louder than the drums, etc. But what I learned from this song is to be bold. Take a risk. The tambourine is too loud, and that's a GREAT thing. It's risky. It's confident. It makes the track stand out, as opposed to a bland, uninteresting mix where nothing exciting happens. Technicalities aside, this song is a gorgeous, heartbreaking love letter. So, so good.

The Smiths, "This Charming Man": I was never a big Smiths fan growing up--and that's an understatement--but these days I listen to just about anything, and I have come to appreciate the genius of Morrissey's haunting, androgynous voice over Johnny Marr's stunning guitar work. I don't love even half of The Smiths that I've heard, but they have a whole bunch of songs that are simply amazing, and "This Charming Man" is one of them. This song makes me want to throw on horrible '80s clothes, ingest drugs I shouldn't, and dance my skinny little ass off.

Little Big Town, "Wounded:" Little Big Town is today's Fleetwood Mac. They are a vocal group, the The Mac and The Eagles, who writes their own country- and folk-pop material and performs it flawlessly. They are the real deal. "Wounded" sounds a lot like Nickel Creek, but deals with the heavy topic of divorce and what it means to recover from that.

Merle Haggard, "I'd Trade All of My Tomorrows": Let me say this right now--Merle Haggard was, in his hey day, just as good, if not better, than Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, and anyone else of that caliber from that era. Except he sang country music, and therefore never got the props he deserved. Sure, he's revered in the country music world, but the general public turns its collective nose up to country music. Hag is still at it today, but a lifetime of hard living and just plain time has tarnished those once-golden pipes. Listen to his first bunch of records, though, and you'll see what I mean. I love Merle Haggard. He has been a tremendous influence on my songwriting. Best of all, the man wrote his own material, a rarity in country music.

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, "Rise Up With Fists!": Jenny Lewis :) Wait...where was I?" Oh yeah. Right. This song totally rocks. Well, it doesn't actually rock, per se, but it is a nearly perfect acoustic-based roots-pop song with buttery but sarcastic vocals and a standout hook. It's a song like this that makes me not worry so much about the possible demise of Rilo Kiley. This is a totally excellent, sunny song that gets massive play on my iPod.

Wilco, "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart": In the opening to the documentary of the same name, which chronicles the making of Wilco's classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, a scruffy Jeff Tweedy is seen driving through Chicago on his way to the recording studio, and the song playing in the background is an acoustic demo version of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart." The studio version is full of weird noises, electronic blurps and bleeps, odd percussion, whacky keyboards, and a wash of guitars, but the quiet acoustic version that opens the movie I love to pieces. The easiest way to hear it is to youtube the video and watch the opening scene of the documentary. Not only is this song so good, but it's filmed in black and white, of which I am a HUGE fan, when it's done right (see: Woody Allen's Manhattan).

Well, I guess that's it. There are many honorable mentions this week, folks who I listened to but maybe just not in the morning--Adele, Feist, Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Ben Folds, Cat Power, Ben Folds Five, Elvis, and the Foo Fighters, just to name a few. On that note, enjoy your Friday.