Willie Nelson - Stella Blue

Image by annableker

The idea of Willie Nelson covering a Grateful Dead song might seem to be something of a head-scratcher, at least at first. But Willie has always been first and foremost a songwriter, and the Dead were always open to traditional folkways. Their classic album American Beauty is a milestone in the development of Americana as a viable musical genre.

WILLIE NELSON
WILLIE NELSON ON AMAZON

STELLA BLUE:

All the years combine
They melt into a dream
A broken angel sings
From a guitar

In the end there's just a song
Comes crying up the night
Through all the broken dreams
And vanished years

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

When all the cards are down
There's nothing left to see
There's just the pavement left
And broken dreams

In the end there's still that song
Comes crying like the wind
Down every lonely street
That's ever been

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

I've stayed in every blue light cheap hotel
Can't win for trying
Dust off those rusty strings just one more time
Gonna make them shine

It all rolls into one
And nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
For very long

And when you hear that song
Come crying like the wind
It seems like all this life
Was just a dream

Stella Blue
Stella Blue

Guitar Shorty - Please Mr. President

"Please Mr. President lay some stimulus on me.
Please Mr. President place some stimulus on me.
Cause I'm just a working man tryin to feed my family.

I used to have a good job working forty hard hours a week.
Had money in the bank and a mortgage I could meet.
But then they started to lay off and got a hold of me.
Now that mean ol' banker trying to put me in the street.

Please Mr. President lay some stimulus on me.
Please Mr. president place some stimulus on me.
Cause I'm just a working man tryin to feed my family.
I'm playin this for you, Mr. President!

Now I sure don't mind workin'- I'm not scared to break a sweat.
I'm not lookin' for a bailout, but I gotta pay my debts.
I don't know how to be a bad guy, I'm not gonna steal and rob.
But if I'm gonna feed my children, I gotta have some kind of job.

Please, please, please Mr. President lay some stimulus on me.
Please Mr. President place some stimulus on me.
Cause I'm just a working man tryin to feed my family.


I've got to have it, you know I need it.
Everybody needs stimulus."

GUITAR SHORTY
GUITAR SHORTY ON AMAZON

Credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Blues veteran Guitar Shorty has been electrifying audiences for five decades with his supercharged live shows and his incendiary recordings (beginning in 1957 with a Willie Dixon-produced single on the Cobra label). Through the years, Shorty has performed with blues and R&B luminaries like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker. Although he had recorded a handful of singles for a variety of labels, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the wider world opened its collective ears to one of the blues’ most exciting performers. His albums since then all received massive critical acclaim, and his legendary live performances have kept him constantly in demand all over the world.


Guitar Shorty (born David William Kearney, September 8, 1939, Houston, Texas) is an American blues guitarist. He is well known for his explosive guitar style and wild stage antics. Billboard magazine said, “his galvanizing guitar work defines modern, top-of-the-line blues-rock. His vocals remain as forceful as ever. Righteous shuffles…blistering, sinuous guitar solos.”

Alejandro Escovedo - Bury Me Hard Road

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO


ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO ON BLOODSHOT RECORDS




Hometown: Austin, TX

"Musically, Alejandro Escovedo is in his own genre." David Fricke, Rolling Stone

Storyville - Rain of Love

STORYVILLE ON MY SPACE


STORYVILLE ON AMAZON



Storyville was a blues-rock band formed in 1994 in Austin, Texas, USA. Drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, former members of Arc Angels and the rhythm section for Stevie Ray Vaughan's band Double Trouble, formed the band with Malford Milligan after a jam session at Antone's.

After releasing an album on November Records in 1994, the band won a total of nine Austin Music awards; they became stalwarts on the local music scene and toured nationally. They subsequently signed to major label Atlantic Records, for whom they recorded two albums before breaking up. The single "Born Without You", from their 1998 release Dog Years, reached #28 on the BillboardMainstream Rock chart.

Members:
Malford Milligan – lead vocals
David Grissom – guitar/vocals
David Holt - guitar/vocals
Tommy Shannon – bass
Chris Layton – drums

Houston Marchman - Viet Nashville

HOUSTON MARCHMAN


HOUSTON MARCHMAN ON LONESTAR MUSIC


"I was just 22 when I hit the road. Searching for truth, passion, and gold. I had an old 6-string, beat up and cracked. Hitched all the way and I wasn't coming back from Nashville , Viet Nashville.

I hit town in the middle of the night Walked 16th, stared at the light. My soul was on fire, passion it rose. I had a young man's dream, but I was an old man's fool in Nashville, Viet Nashville

Gotta little harder there every day. Texas got farther and farther away from Viet Nashville, yeah Viet Nashville.

Well I started pushing my songs and knocking on doors. Most everyday I felt more like a whore. A man said, "son, son you gotta write for an 8th grade level divorced housewife in Nashville," Viet Nashville.

He said, "It's about money, boy, money in the bank. Country ain't into no existential angst. Write for the cash, not for the soul." Right then I knew man I was bound to roll Outta Nashville, Viet Nashville Viet Nashville, Viet Nashville

Yeah, I found me this friend, I called him ponytailed Johnny. Had hair to his ass, the pot made him melancholy. Got us in this gig down on lower Broadway. He told us bout a joint man, they never could pay us in Nashville, Viet Nashville.

We'd play em our songs, we;d play em some covers. Their favorite tune was "Redneck Mother." We got fired one night down in the 4th set. To get out alive, I'd've lost that bet. This big biker chick, she grabbed Johnny's hair. Never seen a woman get hit by a chair Hell, 'cept Nashville, Viet Nashville.

Ten years later in the middle of the night Skipped out of town, but I was feelin' alright Nashville, I owe you a lesson in life Stand up for yourself and what you thinks right Play what you feel play it straight up If you don't hear a sing man I don't give a fuck about Nashville, Viet Nashville Viet Nashville, Viet Nashville."