Calexico and Iron & Wine, Father Mountain


Watch this video on YouTube

Calexico and Iron & Wine, “Father Mountain) from Years to Burn (2019):

I picked this song because: I don’t know why “read the writing on the wall / braced each other for the fall / there’s only one way off the mountain after all” smacked me right in the heart, but it did.

Calexico and Iron & Wine have that effect, though, separately and together. I still have several love stories I want to write based on/inspired by their last record together (In the Reins, 2005), so I have high hopes for this one as well

(Are we back? Am I? Maybe. We’ll see.)

Continue reading

Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Newport Folk Festival, Part I

Jennifer took a trip out to the legendary Newport Folk Festival and brought us back this two-part report.

Day 1

The first night of the festival, one of the topics of dinner conversation was Why are you here? Not in a mean way, but rather: what inspired you to make this journey? The best answer I could come up with was: Well, I got a wild hair . . . which was met with bemused humming and ended in a tangent on regional usage of the phrase. It’s essentially true, however: I went to Rhode Island for about 24 hours largely because back in February I squinted at the calendar and decided I could and it was there and why not?, and oh yes, there are some bands playing that I kind of like! And possibly also because the Internet has permanently changed my idea of what qualifies as a “local show.” Rhode Island! I can get there on the train! (And the bus . . . ) That totally qualifies as “nearby”!

My voyage to the Newport Folk Festival began before dawn on Saturday and included a brief (and accidental) detour to New London, CT. … Continue reading