Brown Bird "Bilgewater"

How do you walk the line of being respectful without being opportunistic?

David Lamb of the band Brown Bird passed away this week.  He had been battling leukemia and had received tremendous support from the Rhode Island (and beyond) music community.

When listeners started letting us know that Lamb had passed away, I remembered that we have a Brown Bird performance in our archives.  And my first thought was to post it on Facebook, or make it this week's MVY Live.
But something about doing that felt like it would be too self-serving, too self-promotional, too opportunistic.

When Lou Reed passed away, we did many a tribute to him on the air.  But even before his passing, not a day had gone by where we didn't play a few Lou Reed/Velvet Underground tracks.

The same isn't true for Brown Bird on MVY.

So would promoting it, just be co-opting a tragedy?

These are the weird, unexpected questions that they never teach you to answer in DJ School.


For a really beautiful rememberance of David Lamb, read this.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bright Eyes "First Day Of My Life"

My wife didn't know the name Monsters Of Folk.  So when they played at Newport Folk a few years ago, she didn't realize that Conor Oberst was going to be on stage.

When he started singing "First Day Of My Life" it caught her off guard.  She knew the song, but to hear him singing it live, sincerely and unexpectedly, it brought out a well of emotion.  She still ranks Conor-Oberst-making-her-cry as one of her all-time concert highlight.

And if I didn't already associate the song with mushy, touching love-stuff, I saw the video for the first time ever, this week.

Maybe you'll have your own Conor-Oberst-making-you-cry moment.

Happy Valentine's Day.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Lord Huron "She Lit A Fire"

Sometimes, the case for a song it made quickly.  "It's a one-listen song" is a line employed by promo folks when they know a tune is going to be quick to win people over.

Sometimes, the case for a song is made slowly.

The Lord Huron record has been out for a year, and folks have been talking to me about it for a year.

I liked the first single, "Time To Run," but we didn't add it.  I felt like the beat was a little on the modern side.  And that very contemporary thing of making the vocals seem very far away and church chorus-y, while popular, is quite the opposite of the voice-up-front-and-clear folk roots of MVY-core artists like Dylan and John Lennon and Gregg Allman, etc, etc, etc.

Lord Huron was at Newport Folk, and I did catch a good chunk of their set.  In short, they were super-impressive.  And the singles, including the second one "She Lit A Fire" sounded strong.

And Jess Phaneuf has been lobbying for this band.

Now, so have a few listeners.

Getting emails asking "Why don't you play more polka?" isn't going to get MVY to play more polka.

But when we're on the fence about an artist, then hearing that listeners are excited about a band, is helpful.

We're passed the time of year when we're going to get any singles from major artists, so now is the time we can go a little farther afield, and add a track like "She Lit A Fire."


Hear "She Lit A Fire" on Youtube.


Hear "Time To Run" on Youtube.

Sungha Jung "I'm Yours"

It was Saturday night of Newport Folk and I was hanging with the mvyradio On The Road crew, eating a late dinner, talking about the day.

My wife had made a surprise visit to join me in Newport.

She was talking to weekend DJ Jane about music, and the subject of playing music came up.

My wife got a guitar a few years ago, but found it difficult to a) find time to practice, since we had new babies, and b) press down on the heavy, hard strings of a guitar.

So we got talking about ukeleles.

Both Jane and I had see a documentary called "The Mighty Uke" about the unlikely resurgence of this instrument, and about the joy and ease of playing it.

My wife decided:  She needed a ukelele.

Late the next day, she called me from home to tell me something incredible.

She was driving home from Newport, and she called her mother, to whom she mentioned the ukelele thing.

To her surprise her mother said, "Oh, I have your grandfather's ukelele in the closet upstairs."

And by the time I'd gotten home from Newport, she was already on the Lazy-Z-Boy, strumming away. 

She's since found a treasure trove of Youtube instructional videos that have taught her, in a week's time, to play "Over The Rainbow," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz.

Her grandfather had a love and fascination with Hawaii, and had traveled there a number of times shortly after the State joined the Union.  There's even a famous story about a surfboard he owned . . .

He also bought a ukelele and learned to play.

The ukelele on the Lazy-Z-Boy

Though she, more than anything, wants to keep the family heirloom, and to learn to play it well, my wife couldn't resist.

A 1950s name-brand (Martin) Hawaiian ukelele?  How would you find out how much it was worth?

She did some Googling, and naturally there is a site.

And she got really cracked up.

Because she said the name of the site, and then realized what she said.

Go ahead, you say it out loud, but do it away from the kids and the co-workers.

The site where she found information on the value of her grandfather's ukelele?

"Uke Hunt."


Hear a uke version of "I'm Yours" on Youtube.


See a Uke tutorial on Youtube.


See the "Mighty Uke" trailer on Youtube.

Amanda Shires "Devastate"

A blogger's work is never done . . .

Despite writing like 1000 posts about Newport Folk artists, there are still people I didn't get to mention.

Look and listen for Amanda Shires.

The Festival is stepping into the artist curated stage scene, using the indoor Museum Of Yachting room as a small space for performances.

Yesterday, The Low Anthem chose a series of artists to perform.

Today, Rhode Island's Joe Fletcher has put together what he calls "Nashville To Newport," bringing in some of his favorite Nashville singer-songwriters.

Amanda Shires has a new album out next week, and the singer, songwriter, player will do a short set on the MOY stage.

But I don't expect that to be all we'll see of her.  Her husband, Jason Isbell, is also on the bill today, and she regularly backs him.

Watch live video, or hear audio, and see the broadcast line-up on our site.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Iris Dement "Let The Mystery Be"

A very pleasant woman arrived at our doorstep this week, to talk about religion.  She asked about our beliefs.

I've written a number of times about religion, and what it means to me.

I wish I'd remembered this Iris Dement song.  I think this sums up my philosophy, as well as anything.

Iris Dement performs this weekend at the Newport Folk Festival.  For artist previews and mvyradio's Newport Folk Channel, visit the mvyradio Bloggers page. 

And hear full coverage of the Festival starting today at 2pm, with live sets from the stage, on mvyradio.com.


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the 10,000 Maniacs/David Byrne version on Youtube.

Tift Merritt "Broken"

I was looking at the list of Newport Folk artists, to see if their names jogged any memories that would make good blog posts.

And when I saw the name Tift Merritt it made me smile, and blush just a little.

At Merlefest 2008, our set up was right in the middle of the Community College campus, in pretty much the geographic center of the 14 stage sprawl.  They had us, believe it or not, in an actual old caboose, which they'd outfitted with power and internet.

And if you stood on the back of the train, you were overlooking the table where artists would be scheduled to autograph CDs and meet with fans.

It was pretty revealing and entertaining, to note what the crowd in that autograph line looked like, based on which artist was at the table that hour.

When legendary pickers like Jorma Kaukonen were seated behind the table, the line was filled with middle aged guys with pot bellies, holding their own guitar to have it signed, ready with their technical question.

When young rebel bands like The Avett Brothers sat there, the line was made up of young hipsters, sporting tattoos and fashionable but perhaps inappropriate gear, like wool caps (it was April).

I watched Tift Merritt coming across campus, headed to her turn to meet and greet.

She was wearing a sleek little dress, that had a plunging neckline and stopped short at the knees, to give full view of her kick-ass boots.

She strutted right up to the table.  Looked at the chair set out for her.  Then back at the table.

And then she jauntily hopped herself right onto the table itself, crossing her legs, ready to meet her fans.

Oh, and looking at those guys just made me laugh.

I mean, look at those awkward 40-something-year-old guys in line.  In their jeans and their band t-shirts.

Look at them shyly, awkwardly, try to talk to the cool, pretty singer.

And watch the cool, pretty singer just charm these guys into a puddle.

What dorks!  What losers!  What . . . wait.

Pretty much every guy in that line, looks like me.

(Sad trombone)

Tift Merrit performs this weekend at the Newport Folk Festival.  For artist previews and mvyradio's Newport Folk Channel, visit the mvyradio Bloggers page.  And hear full coverage of the Festival, with live sets from the stage, on mvyradio.com.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bare Jr "Song For Bobby's Ex"

Buried deep into the lineup page for Newport Folk, I found a little gem that I'm super excited about.

Waaaay at the bottom of the line-up page, on Saturday, there's a listing for Joe Fletcher's Nashville To Newport.  I enjoyed Fletcher's set last year, and so I was intrigued by this posting.

This year, they let Fletcher curate a whole stage---the indoor room in the Museum Of Yachting.  And he's bringing in a number of his Rhode Island friends, and a number of his Nashville friends, to play sets.

And there, in very small print, I saw the name Bobby Bare Jr.

I loved the debut Bare Jr. record called "Boo-tay."  And I was thinking about it recently, when I was trying to come up with a Hot Seat about hidden tracks.

One of my favorite hidden tracks on a CD ever, is on "Boo-tay."  I don't want to say too much about it, because what I love about it is the comical way it's delivered.  As well as the realness of the part the precedes the song.

So check out the hidden track, turn up the volume for the beginning (but put on headphones, because it's NSFW) and don't miss Bare's hidden set at Newport Folk on Saturday.

Bobby Bare Jr performs this weekend at the Newport Folk Festival.  For artist previews and mvyradio's Newport Folk Channel, visit the mvyradio Bloggers page.  And hear full coverage of the Festival, with live sets from the stage, on mvyradio.com.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Beth Orton "She Cries Your Name"

Here's another Weekend Post:

As I was saying yesterday, there are surprisingly few artists on the bill, who had any 1990s output.  But Beth Orton goes back that far . . .


Hear the song on Youtube. 

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Beck "New Pollution"

Here's another Weekend Post:

I was going to do some weekend posts about artists who'll be at Newport Folk, who were 90s faves . . .  but I realize that the intersection on that Venn diagram, is pretty small.   But Beck fills the bill . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.