One of the most significant statements on Leaving Eden is fiddler and singer Rhiannon’s song “Country Girl,” an affirmation of the family, work, and natural resources to be found, nurtured, and relished in country life. “All day I dream about a place in sun, kind of like the place I’m from,” sings Rhiannon, in a song that I believe will be returned to again and again by different singers.
Different Ingredients, A Lot of Flavor: Twenty Dozen by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Southern funk is like a floating spore that carries no poison but can land and flower on any surface, in a cane field or a kitchen, on a baseball diamond, a parade float, or a fishing boat, in a church pew, a bingo hall, or on a dance floor, at a baby’s christening or a backyard barbecue—anywhere. It sprouts with the knowledge that pleasure, like purpose, does not have to be confined to predictable activity.
Inspiration and Instruction: Doc Tate Nevaquaya’s Comanche Flute Music
On Comanche Flute Music, Doc Tate Nevaquaya describes listening at night to nature and communal youth meetings, listening to the chants and the laughter. When Doc Tate was a young boy, he heard an instrument—and remembered it—and was later told it was a flute playing a courting song.
Playful and Sensual, Seductive: The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates
The two men met at Temple University in Philadelphia, where they both were students in the late 1960s, and some of their early music was folk rock—and they moved to New York in the mid-1970s. Their albums include Whole Oates, War Babies, and Bigger Than Both of Us, Voices, Beauty on a Back Street, Along the Red Ledge, Private Eyes, H-2-0, Rock N Soul Part 1, Big Bam, Boom, and Ooh Yeah!—and songs from some of those albums are included on The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates.
Musical Reportage: The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved, by Hunter S. Thompson, with music by Bill Frisell, produced by Hal Willner, featuring Tim Robbins, Dr. John, Ralph Steadman, and Annie Ross
Thompson was one of those writers who made his eyes, his nerves, and his appetites available to the reader, rather than a deeply cultivated mind. Hunter S. Thompson gave the reader an experience. However, if everyone rebels against civilization, there will be nothing left but anarchists and animals.
Sweet but Sly: The Best of The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys formed in 1961, signed with Capitol Records in 1962, and are known for songs such as “California Girls” and “Good Vibrations” and the albums Pet Sounds and Smile, and they are celebrating their 50th anniversary now, in 2012, with a reunion tour. Their story is very American in many ways: though the group’s principal songwriter, Brian Wilson, wrote sunny songs, his childhood and adult life were quite stormy.
Nature, Games, Love, War, Dance, Home: Heartbeat 1 & 2: Voices of First Nations Women
Yet, one gets a glimpse of the spiritual in Native culture, the culture of an original people, the indigenous North Americans, long called American Indians. Listening to the two volumes of Heartbeat, featuring Native American women’s voices, is to encounter mystery—if only because the language in which much of this music comes is foreign, but the songs are about nature, games, love, war, dance, home, family, community, the stars, and the divine, things that concern most of us; and a praising, resilient spirit comes through the songs.
A review of Code Crimson: Arkie Sparkle Treasure Hunter by Petra James
Arkie is a deeply developed character with a realistic personality that is unique and bouncy. She is a brave, daring tween who doesn’t give up easily and other kids the same age as Arkie will relate to her and imagine themselves in her adventure.
A review of Life on Mars by Tracy K Smith
At the heart of Smith’s everyday experience is an expansiveness that calls to mind the universal. Life on Mars is an extraordinary collection that will no doubt draw new readers, intrigued by what poetry is able to achieve. Life on Mars’ rich tapestry traverses a broad spectrum of modern experience, linking pop-culture to science and the geography of human pain, forgiveness and transcendence.
A review Of Midnight Sun, Arctic Moon by Mary Albanese
Albanese’s story is that of triumph over what could easily be impossible odds. She proved herself professionally, earning respect from her male peers in a very competitive field, and tested her limits every step of the way. It would be easy to imagine Albanese saying to herself, “I’ve done this; I wonder what else I can do?”