I got the wandering blues

This song has been stuck in my head recently. I love folk/roots old-timey songs, and it feels like that kind of Sunday afternoon to me today. Love the notion of young people embracing the classics - you can be hot young and armed with every modern convenience, but the world still is full of misery! Some things never change. Something about the sad soulfulness of strings (and their happy furious joy at times as well)... resonates with me (I know, bad string pun, sorry I had to do it).


"The Littlest Birds" - The Be Good Tanyas






Also by The Be Good Tanyas:
I also like this one (no official video) -  "Only in the Past"






And then there's - "Scattered Leaves"






Even an animated video - "Human Thing" - it's so calm and quiet...





A more modern take on this style can be found in The Civil Wars (I can't decide whether I give them point for the name or points off for it... LOL).

"Birds of a Feather" - her kind of leaning-stompiness in this really bugs me. But she can sing!




"Forget Me Not" - Love the old-fashioned feel of the song... But not a fan of the just walking along thing.





"Barton Hollow" -  I do feel like they could have done more with this video, but at least it comes across very visually striking (and nicely, a little bit menacing), and has more than just them standing around!





They also cover Elliott Smith's "Between The Bars" which is one of my favorite songs. I think they do a good job. Nowhere near as good as the original, of course! But their folksy take allows for a lot of melancholy/misery to shine through. However, I can't bear to look at their smug faces singing this.




Old Crow Medicine Show also cranks out charming folk rock. I could listen to them forever... I saw them in Seattle and it was quite the show, much more energetic and wildly delightful than I would have guessed (you can see glimpses of that in the Cocaine song below). It was a pleasant surprise.

"Wagon Wheel" - This song was originally written (unfinished, the chorus part) by Bob Dylan, and then they filled it in and made it their own. I don't know about the video's sideshow setting and scantily clad ladies, but the song is great. (This video abruptly cuts off towards the end, click here to see them perform it at Coachella in full). Truly, some people were born to be fiddlers in old-time stringbands...






"Cocaine Habit" - The best YT comment on this video is:

The base player looks like a shark and the six string banjo player looks like a clown but it sounds great
IantheSuperSaiyan 

"New Virginia Creeper" - a hilarious song, but at its best when performed live (when I saw it there was much in the way of crazy train impressions, shaking about, etc... I can't really even describe it, but it was magic. MAGIC.) Partial live video:




And finally, I humbly submit that there is not much better in life than reallllllly hot string playing. Exhibit A: the classic American song "Soldier's Joy" -









"I Hear Them All" - I guess if you're old-timey, you are obligated to do a video with shots of like New Orleans streets and cemeteries? But again, great song.






I know there's TONS more great young bands out there rocking the old-time vibe - I just started with my current earworm and went from there...
But do feel free to hit the comments with your favorites/links to great songs! Bonus gold stars to anyone who digs up more hot fiddling (preferably by good looking young men, but I won't discriminate).

If snow won't change your heart, let it fall

Sorry no recent posts - winter finally happened here - snow, ice, I didn't have power for 4 days, etc. Things have been kind of hectic around these parts.

So a taste of weather songs - over on my FB, someone had asked for favorite songs with 'rain' in the title - and I was going to put this one, but someone beat me to it, LOL. I remember the first time I heard this song, I was pretty young like 11 or 12 (a formative age!), listening to my walkman in bed, and this song came on the oldies station and I was just blown away. It has been a beloved favorite ever since. There's something completely perfect about the rain sounds, the plunky xylophone type sounds - and that opening:

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain / telling me just what a fool I've been / I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain / and let me be alone again..." 

Followed later by the superb "Rain won't you tell her that I love her so / please ask the sun to set her heart aglow / rain in her heart and let the love we knew start to grow"

"Rhythm of the Rain" - The Cascades (look at these charmers/creepers!)






And I know that I must know more songs about snow, but I am still kind of mentally exhausted from the prior week of actual weather drama, so the first one I could think of was the Belle & Sebastian classic "Fox in the Snow" and followed by "Rain and Snow" a delightful American classic performed by The Be Good Tanyas (I love them, you should really check them out if you're not familiar with them).


"Fox in the Snow" - Belle & Sebastian (this is not an official video, but it is super adorable!):





"Rain and Snow" - The Be Good Tanyas




And perhaps a more easily appreciated of their songs (and one of my favorite songs ever) - "The Littlest Birds" - The Be Good Tanyas (which also aptly references "the cold and the rain"):

"I love you so dearly, I love you so fearlessly..."

But I saved yet another delight for last - "Only Time" by The Magnetic Fields - Stephin Merritt (you will eventually get sick of my fangirl adoration for him, apologies (not really)) is the greatest songwriter of his generation, or possibly of all time. His more lyrically playful songs are amazing and clever and he has a knack for perfect turns of phrase to thrill the heart of word-nerds everywhere. But even his simplest songs - like this one, not a ton of flowery lyrics or anything - convey such richness of emotion, such depth of sadness & woe & love & sweetness & bitter longing and everything all at once. (I made my favorite line the title of this post.) And TMF have by far the best strings around, which is also a personal obsession.